IPS Update Issue February 2023

The Ngee Ann Kongsi-IPS Citizens' Panel on Employment Resilience kicked off its first session on 11 February 2023. Funded by The Ngee Ann Kongsi, it will engage about 70 participants comprising employees, employers, employment intermediaries and the unemployed to co-create recommendations on a key challenge: "how might we strengthen our employment resilience?"
 
Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng opened the session and spoke about the centrality of work in enriching our lives with purpose and meaning, also offering the concept of career health and the whole-of-society effort that is required to maintain it and achieve resilience collectively. 

NTUC Secretary-General Mr Ng Chee Meng further underscored the need for the extensive participation of all stakeholders, also assuring NTUC's commitment to work with the Government and employers to support workers as they navigate through career setbacks.

Find out more about Citizens’ Panels here.

Commentary — Raising taxes and cutting expenditure not ideal solutions to greater demands on Government budget
(The Straits Times)
By Christopher Gee and Yap Jia Hui
• 7-min read

How should the Government manage greater demands on the Singapore Budget?

In this piece for The Straits Times, IPS' Christopher Gee and Yap Jia Hui suggest some strategies to close the fiscal gap. This comes in light of the expected rise in government spending between FY2026 and FY2030 that is predicted to exceed the increase in the Government's revenue. 

Some suggestions include increasing borrowings and minimising future costs by investing in areas such as public health and early childhood.

Commentary — Family members should not have to bear burden of looking after dementia patients alone
(CNA)
By Alfred Wu, Gillian Koh, Sandy Lee and Gabriel Lim
• 5-min read

Caregiving, especially for people with dementia, is a rising concern in ageing societies such as Singapore.  

In this piece for CNA, Alfred Wu, Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, as well as Dr Gillian Koh, Sandy Lee and Gabriel Lim at IPS, give their take on supporting these caregivers, based on research the writers carried out on ageing-related policies. They highlight that a whole-of-society support system is important to ease the heavy burden that caregivers for dementia patients bear.

Commentary — The generation gap on having kids
(IPS Commons)
By Gabriel Lim and Gillian Koh
• 5-min read

Why are Millennials and Gen-Zs so hesitant to start families? 

In this piece, IPS’ Gabriel Lim and Gillian Koh explain the reasons for this, and highlight the generational gap that exists surrounding the idea of having children globally. 

They also suggest ways to bridge these differing views.

Commentary — Southeast Asia’s tech take-off and layoffs
(East Asia Forum)
By Faizal Yahya
• 4-min read

In light of the recent spate of layoffs in the tech industry, IPS' Faizal Yahya gives his take on why the retrenchments have been taking place. Some reasons he gave include over-hiring during COVID-19 and overcommitting to these workers instead of hiring them on contract.

He also explains why there is still room for the industry to grow.

Chapter — Yayasan Mendaki Policy Digest 2022

Three IPS researchers had their pieces featured in the 2022 issue of Yayasan Mendaki’s Policy Digest, which centred on the topic of Family Matters. 

The first article, "The Value of Social Networks in Shaping the Attitudes and Behaviours of Malay-Muslim Fathers" by Shamsuri Juhari and Sufia Maisarah, emphasises the importance of social networks in positively impacting fathering practices in the Malay-Muslim community. It also provides some recommendations on how these networks can be grown and nurtured. 

The next piece, titled "Social Policy and Its Impact on Keeping Family Strong and Relevant in Singapore" by Mathew Mathews, provides an analysis on the important role that social policies play in shaping and strengthening families in Singapore. He looks at areas such as managing the cost of raising children and shaping the relationship between work and family.