Number of applications for financial assistance
stabilises in Q2
SINGAPORE: The number of Singaporeans seeking help to tide
over the economic downturn seems to have stabilised in the second
quarter of the year.
Some Members of Parliament said on Sunday that applications for
financial assistance have not gone up since a spike at the
beginning of the year. But they also said this does not mean the
worst is over.
Dr Amy Khor, mayor of South West Community Development Council and
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Water Resources,
is familiar with helping the needy, especially amid the current
recession.
She used to receive up to 1,200 applications for help in a month
from Singaporeans affected by the downturn at the start of 2009.
But this number has stabilised over the past two months.
"The numbers are still high, but at least they are not
increasing... Our additional programmes to help the retrenched
workers and those who have suffered wage cuts will continue and
we're also preparing ourselves, just in case there's a second wave
of retrenchments if the economy does not improve," Dr Khor
said.
At the MacPherson Constituency, MP Matthias Yao has also seen a
drop of 15 per cent in the number of needy cases asking for help,
thanks to additional aid provided by welfare organisations.
Mr Yao, who is the mayor of South East District, said: "On their
own, (the organisations) have raised some funds and have been
distributing a lot of benefits to the needy residents, so I would
say that the needy residents in MacPherson are quite well taken
care of."
Union leaders said earlier that retrenchments in the second quarter
are likely to be about a third of the 10,000 laid off in the first
quarter. But the outlook for the rest of the year depends on the
performance of companies in Singapore.
Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong said: "A lot will depend on their
abilities to secure orders for the third and fourth quarters. I
think some of them have orders up to July, August or even
September. But they're not able to see beyond that."
The Manpower Ministry is expected to publish Singapore's second
quarter employment data at the end of this month.
- CNA/so