Mr Speaker, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the livelihood of over 200,000 freelancers and Self-Employed Persons. Thankfully, many received support in various forms during this period. Unfortunately, their income continues to be severely affected. To assist Self-Employed Persons cover their immediate and future needs, I have 3 proposals to make. These are: support to mitigate income drop; support for licensing and accreditation; and support in finding new income sources.
Support to mitigate income drop
Firstly, we need solutions to help them deal with a sudden and likely prolonged drop in income. This is a most pressing need. A case in point is with the two largest groups of Self-Employed Persons in Singapore, namely, taxi and private hire drivers. Together, the National Taxi Association and the National Private Hire Vehicles Association, the Point-to-Point operators and the Ministry of Transport worked out several solutions to deal with a severe drop in passenger numbers and earnings.
Mr Speaker, in the past, within and outside this House, I debated actively with the Ministry and the operators on things to improve and tackle problems faced by drivers. But this is a time where we collaborate and work together. And as a result, we were able to pool our resources and swiftly rolled out rental rebates and financial aids to drivers. We in the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) were also able to extend further assistance to those who were union members. On their part, I’m very grateful to the Point-to-Point operators who gave additional support such as rental waiver, which means they didn’t collect a single dollar in rental during the Circuit Breaker period from the taxi drivers and rental reductions even after the Circuit Breaker period has ended. Drivers I spoke to are deeply appreciative of the various support given.
Mr Speaker, during this whole entire period of COVID impact, our union leaders also went down to the ground together with the operators, staff, and officials from the ministry to hand out masks, take temperature, give out food packs, bentos to the drivers in need. This is indeed tripartite in action. The Ministry of Transport has also supported not just full-time drivers but part-time drivers as well. Part-time private hire drivers who do not qualify for the daily rental rebates under the Special Relief Fund, were given a $300 Driver Care Fund, which the ministry provides for drivers. The NTUC helps to administer the fund and over 3,500 drivers have benefitted from that scheme. We handled the administration because we know the ground and could handle the appeal process swiftly.
As takings are unlikely to return to pre-COVID levels anytime soon, the Ministry has extended the Special Relief Fund to help full time drivers deal with rental costs. But the Driver Care Fund has not been extended for part-time drivers who are also struggling. I hope the Ministry of Transport as well as the Minister of Finance can consider giving part-time private hire drivers a second tranche of Driver Care Fund and to review the eligibility criteria to allow more drivers to qualify.
Support to be licensed and accredited
The second support I would like to propose is in licensing and accreditation for Self-Employed Persons. To help them deal with a sudden drop in income, we heard earlier about the $9,000 Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS). The SIRS scheme based on eligibility criteria, benefitted 130,000 Self-Employed Persons who are auto-qualifed to benefit. Those who do not meet the criteria have submitted applications. Understandably, many Self-Employed Persons who are not in the auto-qualify group are anxious.
One common issue they face is the lack of a licensing regime to verify if they are Self-Employed Persons and are struggling with a severe drop in income. Many also had not been diligent in contributing to their Medisave or filing their income tax returns. This added to the lack of information to verify their status.
Previously in this House, I have appealed to have more groups of Self-Employed Persons to be issued with a license. I also called upon the Government to offer co-contributions to help them contribute to their Medisave. I would like to repeat that call today.
For instance, Self-Employed Persons such as private hire drivers and tour guides hold a vocational licence and are contracted with identifiable operators. That allowed accurate identification of those who have suffered a severe drop in income. Furthermore, Self-Employed Persons who are registered with the unions could at least access immediate help offered by the NTUC. These cover people who are in the National Instructors and Coaches Association, who dealing with people who are instructors and coaches offering services.
However, we do not yet have a licensing regime for people such as tuition teachers, photographers, performers, riggers, sound system men in the self-employed group. Whether it is to offer them financial or training help, much effort is needed to ensure that genuine freelancers in need are identified and assisted.
The Ministry of Manpower had earlier launched Contribute-As-You-Earn initiative to help Self-Employed Persons contribute regularly into their Medisave account. However, the initiative is only in its early stage and the reach is not yet reached many of the 200,000 Self-Employed Persons in Singapore.
It is a useful scheme. Therefore, I would like to propose that the Ministry of Manpower spearhead a Whole-of-Government approach to have more groups of Self-Employed Persons issued with a vocation licence, or to form accredited professional guilds, or join the union. This will allow for proper assessment of their professional needs and providing them with help during a downturn.
The NTUC has in the past formed unions for several groups of Self-Employed Persons and we stand ready to work with the Government to do more. Mr Speaker, there is a need to do more for this group but we need the recognition by the industry and Government agencies in order for the guilds or unions to take work.
Only then will the guilds be effective and more Self-Employed Persons see a need to join.
This has been my experience as an advisor to the union working together with the Point-to-Point operators and the Ministry of Transport.
Because of the strong tripartite relationship, we were able to deliver support swiftly to many taxi and private hire drivers. My other union colleagues shared the same experience when they worked with the travel operators and the Ministry of Trade to help our tour guides. Moving forward, we must ensure that all Self-Employed Persons can benefit from such a tripartite arrangement.
Furthermore, I would like to repeat my call for a one-off co-funding by the Government to Self-Employed Persons who make voluntary contributions to their Medisave. This will go towards ensuring that more of them will be able to save up for their immediate and future medical needs.
Support to supplement income or find new jobs
And finally, we also need to look at ways to help Self-Employed Persons find new sources of income.
Many lost their income when their clients stop buying services from them because of the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The NTUC’s Employment & Employability Institute has been conducting job-matching for Self-Employed Persons who would like to consider temporary jobs or make a career switch. The recently announced National Jobs Council is indeed a further boost to this effort.
There are sectors that are still hiring and the most pressing concern now is to quickly acquire the skills needed and match workers to those vacancies.
But are our Self-Employed Persons ready and have the appropriate mindset to make such switches? I have spoken to drivers who have switched career tracks and become Bus Captains as well as event emcees who have taken on temporary roles as temperature screeners or Swabbers. Also, we read recently that over 10,000 taxi and private hire drivers have moved from serving commuters to delivering food, groceries and parcels. This is thanks to the Ministry of Transport’s help, to liberalise the current Point-to-Point regulation. The drivers learnt the skills of engaging customers on delivery matters, use cashless payment and even made adjustment to their daily routine – no more do they queue up at the airport, but outside restaurants or supermarkets. Our workers are indeed adaptable.
To support them, I hope that the National Jobs Council can look at enabling more Self-Employed Persons attain more vocational skills and to earn income from various channels. This way, our scarce manpower can be better deployed across various industries. It will also support our Self-Employed Persons reduce their downtime through matching them with various assignments.
There may be concern that this multi-skilling of Self Employed Persons would eat into the domain of other trades. But, the pandemic has already compelled even countries to relook at their longstanding economic strategy and even geared up to becoming less reliant on others.
Similarly, we must reduce the risks Self-Employed Persons face, support them to acquire new skills and leverage on digital tools to optimise their access to work assignments.
Due to the pandemic, more of us have begun to understand the needs of the over 200,000 Self-Employed Persons in Singapore. All businesses and service buyers, and yes, including Government as buyers, can help by looking beyond the boundaries of contractual relationships as supported by our Self-Employed Persons.
It is imperative that we work towards ensuring that our Self-Employed Persons workforce, that contributes significantly to the development of many sectors, remain viable and intact even after COVID-19 has ended.
Mr Speaker, I support the Budget.
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