Singapore’s DBS: Covid-19 fallout could widen income gap, threaten workers aged 35-44

More than 300,000 workers saw salaries shrink by over 10 per cent between March and May, according to anonymised data from 1.2 million accounts

The island nation’s largest bank found that about half of those affected earned less than US$2,190 a month

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Singapore’s virus-hammered economy shrank almost 43 per cent in the second quarter, according to official data. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:40pm, 18 Aug 2020Updated: 11:01pm, 18 Aug 2020

More than 300,000 workers in Singapore have seen their salaries shrink by over 10 per cent because of the Covid-19 pandemic, with lower income groups hit the hardest and workers aged 35-44 increasingly vulnerable to the economic fallout, according to DBS.

The island nation’s largest bank revealed the data on Tuesday, after parsing anonymised March-May account data from 1.2 million customers who had their salaries credited into DBS accounts. About a third of the 300,000 affected workers saw wages plummet by more than 50 per cent, and a quarter saw incomes fall between 31 to 50 per cent.

Income deterioration was most severe for customers between the ages of 35 and 44, with more than half suffering a reduction of more than 30 per cent.

In the initial group of affected workers, more than half were under the age of 55, while about 50 per cent earned less than S$3,000 (US$2,190) a month.

DBS senior economist Irvin Seah, lead author of the report, said the bank did not know the residency status of those affected since the data was aggregated to protect customers’ identities, but that most would be Singaporeans and permanent residents.