A few days ago, Workers’ Party released a consultation paper regarding a Redundancy Insurance scheme and I read it with huge interest.

With calls for more social safety nets in Singapore in recent years, sacred cows have been slaughtered and we actually have minimum wages for specific sectors like cleaners and security guards now.

This shift is apparent since even PAP MPs like Patrick Tay from the Labour Movement has come out to say that the concept of unemployment insurance should be studied further before we dismiss it out of hand. In fact, about half a year ago, Straits Times ran an article calling for an unemployment scheme to help support those in between jobs.

I will admit that I am very much on the fence with regard to an unemployment insurance or retrenchment insurance scheme in Singapore. Apart from the obvious benefits of payouts to sustain a retrenchment or ...