Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Page 98

Practice Issues
At the core of keeping the dignity of people who are able bodied and able
to, is work and job creation. We have an approach and strategy that seeks to
create better jobs, skills and careers as the best form of welfare for workers
in Singapore. We must back businesses to create jobs. Job creation is not
just about jobs of today, but also about the upgrading of skills and careers.
We now have SkillsFuture to support and promote lifelong learning to meet
the challenges of globalisation. Work is – and always will be – one of the best
routes out of poverty to a better standard of living. But work is also about
looking out for those who cannot help themselves and need help to get
back on their feet. We should support people who fall ill, so that they can
stay in work and aren’t just consigned to a life stuck on assistance. We help
those with work potential and those who want to work to be trained to reach
their potential. We are also among the few countries worldwide which have
made childcare of quality, both accessible and affordable through subsidies.
We have introduced shared parental leave so families can be there for one
another at the most stressful and joyful time – the birth of a child.
It is useful for us to reflect on how we have not adopted the left or
right approach but found our own way of addressing the needs of the
disadvantaged in our society. There are 2 schools of thought that have
traditionally defined most countries’ approach. One is the leftist or statist view
built around increased welfare provision and high government intervention
in terms of pushing people’s incomes which tend to treat symptoms and
less the causes of personal social problems. This view risks trapping some
people in dependency. Some would even push for a poverty line which can
create a cliff effect where those outside the line gets nothing.
Another school of thought is a more free market one – the idea that a rising
tide will lift all boats. While some would argue that the rising tide sometimes
do not lift all boats, the free market that allows choice and opportunities,
has by far generated economic growth and improved the general living
standards. In mo st free market economy however, there are some people
who get left behind, even as the market transforms economies and societies.
What we have done was to equip people to make the most of the opportunities
presented to them and to close the gap, be it in education, training, skills
upgrading and financial means, as much as possible. This is where the social
sector plays its part in closing the gap, ensuring that it doesn’t widen with
globalisation and the technological revolution. The social sector can do so
by helping individuals and families to access opportunities through sorting
out personal and familial impediments that may be in their way.

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