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Written Answer by Mrs Josephine Teo Minister for Manpower to Parliamentary Question on Workfare Income Supplement Self-Employed Persons Recipients

Employment practices

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1563 OF 2019 FOR A SITTING ON 18 FEBRUARY 2019

QUESTION NO. 1161 FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

MP: Assoc Prof Walter Theseira

To ask the Minister for Manpower for each year from 2014 to 2018 and by Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) eligibility age group (a) what is the number and percentage of self-employed persons who receive WIS payouts; and (b) what is the average WIS payout received among self-employed persons.

Answer

  1. Table 1 shows the number and percentage of self-employed persons (SEPs) receiving Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) in each of the four WIS age bands, and Table 2 shows the average annual WIS payout received by SEPs for work done in 2014 to 2017.

 Table 1: Number and Percentage of SEPs receiving WIS for work done in 2014 to 20171

Work Year (WY) 2014 
 2015  2016  2017 
 WIS Age Band2  No. of SEP recipients % of SEPs4   No. of SEP recipients % of SEPs4    No. of SEP recipients % of SEPs4    No. of SEP recipients  % of SEPs4 
 35 - 443  5K  9%  4K 9% 5K  10%  4K  8%
 45 - 54  12K  15%  11K 13%  10K 14%  9K  12%
 55 - 59  9K 21%   9K 21%   9K  20%  8K  20%
 60 and above  19K 30%  19K 32%  21K  31%  21K  28%
 Total  45K 19%   43K 19%   45K  19%  42K  18%

Table 2: Average annual WIS payout received among SEPs for work done in 2014 to 20171

 WIS Age Band2 Average WIS ($) 
 WY 2014 WY 2015 WY 2016 WY 20175 
 35 - 443  459 421  434  468 
 45 - 54  800  779  759  808
 55 - 59  1,130  1,110  1,090  1,160
 60 and above  1,430  1,410  1,380  1,460
 Total  1,100  1,090  1,080  1,160
  1. Information on WIS-SEP recipients for 2018 is not available yet as the SEPs can only be assessed for WIS eligibility and receive annual WIS payment after they have declared their net trade income for 2018 and made the required MediSave contributions by 31 December 2020. 

FOOTNOTE

  1. Data for WY 2014 as at Feb 2016; Data for WY 2015 as at Feb 2017; Data for WY 2016 as at Feb 2018; Data for WY 2017 as at Jan 2019. WY 2017 data is based on preliminary figures as not all eligible SEPs would have declared their income and made the necessary MediSave contribution to receive WIS.
  2. Age as at respective years.
  3. Includes Persons with Disabilities (PWD) WIS recipients aged below 35.
  4. Percentage of SEPs of the given age band in the citizen labour force who received WIS.
  5. The most recent round of WIS enhancements was implemented for work done from WY 2017.