Walter Theseira suggests MPs restrain salaries in respective professions to increase poorer S’poreans' wages

Lower-paid Singaporeans have been affected most by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Joshua Lee | February 27, 2020, 06:09 PM

The Covid-19 outbreak and the accompanying economic slump has revealed the disparity between social value and value allocated by the market.

This was the theme of Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Walter Theseira's speech during the Budget debate today (Feb. 26).

Front line workers have benefitted much less from market economy

Many front line individuals play a huge role in Singapore's Covid-19 containment efforts.

Yet these individuals have benefited much less from the market economy, said Theseira, who listed cleaners, nurses, and security officers as examples.

He gave the example of a cleaner at his university who "bears the risks of cleaning up dirt and spills and worse things and she has more work now but the same pay".

"Security officers put themselves at risk serving quarantine notices and screening for sick persons at our institutions. As we know, one such officer did in fact contract Covid-19. Our emergency medical responders and nurses put themselves at risk every day as their work puts them in direct physical contact with the sick."

Case in point, General Practitioners (GP), who screen and treat the sick, earn less than aesthetic surgeons.

"There may be market reasons why elective aesthetic surgery gives a doctor a much better living than primary care, but surely there are few social reasons why this is so," he said, adding that Singaporeans should never assume that market value is equivalent to social value.

The market economy is not always efficient

There is no guarantee that the market prices and allocation reflects efficiency, said Theseira, especially when hit by difficult times.

For example, private hospitals in Singapore are experiencing a shortage of work during the Covid-19 outbreak because many foreign patients have cancelled their appointments.

Meanwhile, public hospitals still continue to be overstretched.

"This is neither resilient nor efficient. And yet it is the market outcome, because there is market demand to pay for excess capacity in the private sector, and none in the public sector."

Singapore has to guard against the "short sighted pursuit of efficiency at the expense of resilience", Theseira added.

Restructure wages of top management to benefit the lower-paid

Another thing that could worsen because of the Covid-19 outbreak is wage inequality -- especially burdensome for freelancers and SME workers who have the least resources to weather the storm, said Theseira.

He brought up the example of how wages for low-income workers stagnated for much of the 2000s.

Household income growth for the lowest quintile of Singaporeans was four per cent from 2004 to 2009 as opposed to 19.5 per cent for the top quintile.

Society needs to "pay and respect low-workers better", urged Theseira.

This solidarity has been demonstrated by several companies in Singapore, including Temasek, SMRT, and Capitaland who restructured and reduced the wages of senior management staff.

"They are important not just for the morale of front line staff, who may yet face cost-cutting, but also sends a signal that the risks and costs of Covid-19 should be socially distributed."

Theseira then suggested that his fellow Members of Parliament (as leaders in their professions) also restrain and restructure their wages so that lower-paid Singaporeans can have higher wages:

"Today we commend our cleaners and security guards, nurses and public health workers, for being in the front line of protecting us against Covid-19. We acknowledge the work of our public transport workers, our hawkers and shopkeepers, in keeping our supply lines and life running as normal. Can we give them a tangible increase in their salaries to acknowledge their sacrifices?"

Top screenshot via CNA.