Singapore is rich, most modern in Southeast Asia, with a home ownership rate of over 90%, high social welfare, but many are still stuck in their class.

The National University of Singapore's Institute for Policy Studies (NUS) conducted a survey of 4,015 people over 18 years of age between August 2018 and January 2019. When survey respondents were asked if they believed their personal finances would improve in the next 10 years, more than half of the respondents said the financial fluctuations were insignificant and one in ten. People say their fortunes may decline.

This pessimistic mentality still exists at different levels of education. Only 44% of degree holders expect to be able to advance financially in another decade. The percentage drops to 40.6% for those with only vocational training. For people with secondary education, like delivery clerk Alroy Ho, 32, 23.8% believe they can do better and 10.6% think they will fall back.

Four out of five Singaporeans interviewed by the South China Morning Post said their pessimism stems from the fact that wages are not commensurate with costs and the feeling that wages are not growing.

Ho has not graduated from high school. He uses an electric car to deliver goods with an income of S $ 2,000 to S $ 3,000 per month, depending on the number of orders delivered. With the government now banning vehicles like Ho's on the walkway, he might have to get his driver's license and buy a motorbike if he wants to continue his job. This put even more pressure on his already precarious financial situation.

"I really don't know what will happen after 10 years. Just ask me what the next two years, I didn't know how I would survive," Ho said. "Singapore is a wealthy country but growing too fast and not everyone catch up to that speed."

Qualified people like Beatrice B, 24, the editor for a magazine, shared Ho's feelings. Her income is nearly SGD 3,000 (approximately US $ 2,200) per month and Beatrice is paying a college loan of SGD 28,700 (US $ 21,000) after 4 years of grinding to get her bachelor of arts degree. She tries to be optimistic about the future but the cost of living is too high, while the salary is rising too slowly. "I feel stifled," shared Beatrice.

Beatrice currently lives with her parents in a 4-room apartment "because there is no other way". She hopes the salary could soon be improved by "too much workload".

Nur Ain Hamid, 31, apprenticeship at Singapore Institute of Technical Education and unemployed. Still, she was more optimistic than Beatrice. The single mother of 4 children, ages 3 to 10, is about to remarry with her new husband who is a technical worker.

Nur and his children are living with two disabled siblings and have health problems in a three-room apartment. They live on a daily basis based on their brother's disability benefit of SGD 1,050 per month and the sister's Central Saving Fund.

Nur hopes that after she remarries and returns to work, by the time her children grow up and become independent, her life will improve. But Nur said she never thought of becoming rich but only wanting to escape poverty. "Now, if the children are sick, I don't know how to manage it," Nur said.

When asked why many Singaporeans feel so insecure about the future, scholars think this is the inevitable result of a mature economy.

"The era of miraculous growth is over. The widespread policies of housing and mass education in the past now make way for greater stratification," said Irene Ng, associate professor of sociology at NUS. , comment.

From independence in 1965 to 1973, Singapore's average annual GDP growth reached 12.7%. Even at a period of stagnant growth from 1973 to 1979, it still stood at 8.7%, a relatively high level. In recent years, the average growth rate was only 3% and this year, with the influence of the US-China trade war, annual growth is expected to fall below 1%.

Sociologist Tan Ern Ser from NUS said that in the 1970s and 1980s, many people from the poor rose to join the middle class on their own, but today, things become more difficult without a degree. there are too many values as before and the economy often faces instability and disorder.

"It is not surprising that people now find it difficult to move forward from where they are, where it was not as poor as it once was," he commented.

The Ministry of Family and Social Development of Singapore last year said it did better than most other countries in its social mobility effort. For example, 9 out of 10 students from 20% of Singapore's lowest-income households have reached the post-secondary education threshold, compared to 5 out of 10 students 15 years ago.

Last month, the Singapore Ministry of Finance published a report on socio-economic results by generation. The report compares Singaporeans in their current 40s to those in their 40s from previous generations and found that people in their 40s today "are better educated, more likely to find work, better income, save more, live longer and healthier ".

However, it is still a problem if Singaporeans feel stuck in their social class. According to Irene Ng, Singaporean views on the government have long been that they "support us to help ourselves". If a social division felt they could not move on despite hard work, this belief would be shattered.

In fact, 37.2% of the respondents in the NUS poll said that if socio-economic issues are not resolved, it can reduce the level of trust with the government.

Experts say that in addition to improving basic issues such as job opportunities, access to education, housing and careers, the government also needs to create more options and avenues for people. developing outside of their specialties and regions.

Associate Professor Ng Kok Hoe from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS, judged that if Singaporeans feel that public policies "have not changed", they will be easily disappointed and pessimistic.

Irene Ng suggested that the government reconsider its policy to rebalance the opportunities. "We can test the mobility of all national policies, linking the policy results to their impact on social mobility," she said.

Teo You Yenn, a sociologist at Nanyang Technological University, said workplace standards, housing policies and healthcare infrastructure need to change so that everyone is rewarded. their contribution, regardless of socio-economic status.

For Tan Ern Ser, a change in national perspective is also essential, away from the Singapore Dream of a continuous upward shift. "Give up the idea that we are taking the escalator, let alone the elevator," he emphasized. "Perhaps, most importantly, they need to determine what is 'good enough' in their lives."