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SINGAPORE: Almost 40 per cent of lower-income families on ComLink+ did not have any family members earning a regular wage at the end of 2024, according to a report by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) published on Tuesday (Dec 16).<\/p>\n
Last year, 4,025 families on ComLink+ had no family member in stable employment with regular income. This rose from 3,563 in 2023, data from the ministry showed.<\/p>\n
Stable employment refers to being in employment for six consecutive months or more in a year. The data does not capture income from platform work before 2025, hence it may underestimate the number of families with members employed, said MSF.<\/p>\n
For those with jobs, the report also found that the earnings of households in the lower-income brackets rose faster than that of median households over the past five years.<\/p>\n
From 2019 to 2024, the annualised growth for groups in the bottom 20 per cent of earners was 1.9 per cent, which is higher than the median group’s 1.3 per cent.<\/p>\n
The ministry said in a statement: “While the government creates opportunities and provides additional support for lower-income families, these families often have unique needs that are not easy to address, even with nationwide programmes.”<\/p>\n
Since the rollout of ComLink+ in 2024, MSF has shifted its focus away from providing short-term assistance for basic expenses via ComCare payouts. The new scheme incentivises lower-income families to get a stable job, enrol children in preschools, pay off debt and save up for a home.<\/p>\n
By the end of 2024, corporate organisations supported more than 500 ComLink+ programmes and activities. They contributed S$37 million (US$28.7 million) in donations and other support, such as groceries, family outings and digital literacy programmes.<\/p>\n
As of December 2024, 10,219 families agreed to join the ComLink+ scheme, an increase from the 9,153 families in December 2023.<\/p>\n
The report tracks the progress of ComLink+ families across six domains: income security, children\u2019s development and education, housing, family functioning, financial resilience and health.<\/p>\n
To this end, the ministry combined various indicators to categorise families as \u201cnot achieved stability\u201d, \u201cstable\u201d, \u201cself-reliant\u201d and \u201csocially mobile\u201d. Families must meet both stability and self-reliance indicators in order to be considered self-reliant, and achieve all indicators to be recognised as socially mobile.<\/p>\n
As of December last year, 5,763 families had not achieved stability, which was an increase from 4,920 in 2023. This change was primarily driven by families that were onboarded in 2024.<\/p>\n
Of the 2,902 ComLink+ families onboarded in 2024, 61 per cent had not achieved stability, especially in the income security and family functioning domains.<\/p>\n
In response to CNA’s queries on the report’s findings, MSF reiterated that ComLink+ families often face complex and interlocking issues “that will take time to address”.<\/span><\/p>\n “The <\/span>journey for ComLink+ families towards social mobility is a long-term one, and meaningful change may not be fully evident within a year.”<\/span><\/p>\n As of December 2024, 28 per cent of ComLink+ families (2,840 households) under the scheme were considered to be socially mobile in terms of income security. This is an increase from 26 per cent of ComLink+ families (2,342 households) in 2023.<\/p>\n This meant that they had stable employment, were not on major forms of financial assistance at any point in time in the last 12 months and had real income growth overtime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nINCOME SECURITY<\/h2>\n