Chan Chun Sing (Trade and Industry portfolio), Desmond Lee (Social and Family Development Trade and Industry portfolio) and Ng Chee Meng (Prime Minister's Office Trade and Industry portfolio) came together on July 8, the last day of campaigning before Cooling Off Day and Polling Day, to give an update on Singapore's economy.

The ministers laid out the work that the PAP has put in over the last few months to mitigate the effects of Covid-19.

In addition, they sounded a note of caution about the uncertain economic outlook ahead, and said that the PAP had the "concrete plans" for the future.

It is also perhaps noteworthy that while Chan is campaigning in a somewhat "safe" constituency of Tanjong Pagar, both Lee and Ng are standing in the closely-watched contests of West Coast and Sengkang respectively.

Uneven recovery expected

Chan warned that due to Covid-19, external demand is expected to be weak, and the recovery to be uneven.

He also said that the risk of future infections, or a possible second wave, could not be ruled out.

He said: "So we must be mentally prepared for this unevenness in the recovery."

Chan also shared that retrenchment numbers, while having increased, did not go up "as much as we feared", partly due to government schemes to maintain employment, such as the Jobs Support Scheme.

He added that in order to prevent even more job losses, the government had to "inject confidence" in the business community in order to continue investing in Singapore.

"Concrete plans" to create jobs

Ng, the labour man, expounded on the steps the PAP had taken to help people retain their jobs or find new ones.

He mentioned results at the inaugural job fair at e2i were good, with 16,000 job opportunities for job seekers, including traineeships and training opportunities.

Ng said there is still a "hard journey" ahead, but the PAP had implemented concrete plans to create jobs by working together with tripartite partners, instead of just providing "sweet talk", in a possible reference to the election.

Emotional and psychological impact of Covid-19

Lee then addressed the emotional and psychological impact of Covid-19.

He stressed that the psychological and emotional well-being of an individual or a family is important to “grasp opportunities” that are being provided.

“Even if you provide financial support, but if the will of an individual and family is broken by the stresses and strains, that will be a barrier for them to be able to grasp opportunities [that are] being provided by the economic and jobs agencies and the labour movement.”

He also shared that as of July 6, the National CARE hotline has managed almost 23,000 people who have called in for various concerns.

This includes concerns related to:

* Mental health

* Marital and family issues

* Lack of emotional support

* Financial worries

On top of that, the Adult Protective Service and Child Protective Service has seen a monthly average of 7 per cent more inquires received over the months of April and May compared to March, which was before the circuit breaker started.

The current post-circuit breaker period, on the other hand, has seen a 30 per cent increase in the number of monthly inquiries than during the circuit breaker period.

Addressing the spike, he said: “This issue continues to be very salient and we need to keep an eye on it.”

Lee also shared that multiple agencies launched an online portal, mindline.sg, where one can find a collection of resources that will provide access to various mental health resources and tools.

The portal also allows one to remain anonymous.

Top image by PAP.