SensingSG: What Matters to Singapore (Wave #3; June 2024)

As we move into mid-2024, the latest SensingSG data reveals a more optimistic Singapore. The sentiments collected from 20-28 May 2024 show notable positive shifts across various dimensions, from overall community sentiment to personal finances and governance perceptions. Here we present an overview of the latest findings from SensingSG Q22024, the platform’s third wave overall.

“Singapore in Good Shape”, say Citizens

Several key metrics on SensingSG demonstrate that Singaporeans are feeling more positive than they were three months ago:

84% believe the country is heading in the right direction, a notable 7% improvement quarter-on-quarter (all subsequent comparisons in this piece reflect quarter-on-quarter comparisons, unless otherwise specified);

81% are happy with how things are going in Singapore today, another 7% increase; and
Looking ahead, 44% expect the national economy to improve over the next 12 months, marking a 10% rise.

Personal Financial Outlook Also Improving

Undoubtedly contributing to the sense of wider community optimism, the data also shows an uptick in how Singaporeans feel about their personal financial situation:

68% say their personal financial situation is quite good or better, compared to 64% in February 2024 and 66% in September 2023;

38% report that their family is financially better off now than 12 months ago, up from 32% in the previous quarters; and
48% believe they will be financially better off in 12 months, which is a +6% increase from February 2024 and an +8% increase from September 2023).

Dial Takes a Positive Turn on the Good Governance Meter

These sentiments are further backed up by the Good Governance Meter (GGM), which reflects growing satisfaction with government performance. The overall GGM score rises from 63% to 66% – the first time we have seen a rise in the 9 months SensingSG has been tracking this data.

This increase is largely driven by improved sentiments on everyday economic issues. The following issues – which have repeatedly been shown to be both the areas of most importance to Singaporeans and those which they have tended to rank governance performance lowest on – all saw sizeable increases in their governance scores this quarter.

GST: +8%
Cost of Living: +7%
Housing Affordability: +7%
Salaries and Wages: +7%
Cybersecurity and Scams: +7%

However, there were slight declines in both Crime and Immigration, which each saw their governance score drop 3pts.

So, What’s Behind this Spike in Optimism?

Perceptions towards economic performance are what have moved the optimism needle this quarter. And while structural forces impacting the global economy had their part to play, we can’t ignore two major domestic developments that surely have had an impact on Singaporean sentiment in the past three months.

First, the timing of our data collection is important to note: data in the preceding SensingSG wave was collected in late Jan-to-early Feb – which, crucially, was before then-Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong delivered a Budget on 16 Feb that was widely regarded as comprehensive, ambitious, and generous. Meanwhile, the fieldwork for this round of data was conducted between 20-28 May, mere days after Lawrence Wong became Singapore’s 4th Prime Minister on 14 May.

“ It is therefore reasonable to surmise that the Budget hit its mark in terms of easing community concerns towards cost of living, inflation, GST, jobs, and skills. Indeed, with numerous initiatives and many billions of dollars targeted directly at these issues in the Budget, it would have been a surprise – and an alarm for the government! – if economic sentiment had not improved among the population. ”

Of course, the many initiatives announced in February will take due time to play out, so evaluation of the policies’ ultimate success (or otherwise) will have to wait for a later day. But for now, the Budget probably deserves a large share of the credit for the sentiment boost across so many of SensingSG’s metrics, especially those underpinned by economic considerations.

What is slightly more difficult to discern is the influence Wong’s succession as Prime Minister has had on how the community is feeling. We shine a spotlight on this historic event more in the next section, but there is no “smoking gun” data point that really says the change made a major impact on public sentiment at a holistic level. The truth is that PM Wong was already popular and trusted because of his accomplishments as DPM, but the man he replaces – Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong – was himself a venerated leader. So it might be a case of “good guy out, good guy in – nothing to see here”. Having said this, the wall-to-wall favourable media coverage of PM Wong in the lead-up to his swearing-in ceremony can surely only have been beneficial to a bubbling up of the feel-good factor in Singapore.

Spotlight on New Prime Minister Lawrence Wong

For one of our special features in this edition of SensingSG, we shine the spotlight on Lawrence Wong taking the helm as Prime Minister. We find that he takes the hotseat with significant broad support, but Singaporeans acknowledge that they still think they have much to learn about their new leader:

Three-in-four (76%) Singaporeans approve of the job he’s doing, but our data shows no significant bump in his approval rating from before he became PM;

More than two-in-five (44%) say they don’t know what kind of leader PM Wong will be, with barely one-in-10 (12%) saying they clearly know the kind of leader he will be;
Three-in-four (76%) expect things to change under his leadership; and
“Excited” is the word most associated with the PM change by under-30s, whereas “Reassured” best describes how the over-60s feel about it.

“These insights are fascinating because they appear to tell us that while Singaporeans are saying it is too early to judge what kind of leader PM Wong will be, they have already seen enough to regard him highly and look upon his succession to the top job positively, despite the fact that SM Lee Hsien Loong was so popular himself.”

Needless to say, Singaporeans are counting on the PM’s esteemed economic chops to help steer the country towards better waters. When asked what issues PM Wong should concentrate on most, economic ones dominate over social or political ones, and the clear two frontrunners are Cost of Living and Inflation (reflecting – again – what we have repeatedly found in our community sentiment metrics).

Overwhelming Support for New Government Guidelines on FWAs

In a second special feature in this round of SensingSG, we look at how Singaporeans feel about the introduction of new government guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs), which will mean that all employers must fairly request consider formal requests from employees for FWAs starting from 1 Dec 2024. This announcement sparked widespread debate and raised some heckles when first announced and, indeed, the strength of feeling on the issue is illustrated by the fact that our respondents named it the joint biggest story of the quarter (equal with Lawrence Wong becoming Prime Minister).

In an intriguing set of insights on FWAs, we find that:

Nine-in-10 (89%) Singaporeans support the government’s decision to issue FWA guidelines to companies;
But four-in-five (79%) also acknowledge that FWAs simply won’t work in some industries.
57% of Singaporeans overall think that the move will make Singapore more productive; a feeling shared especially strongly by those under 40 (64%).
But in a sign of the complexity of the issue, more than half of Singaporeans (54%) also say they think the guidelines will hurt SMEs;
And 52% believe the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will be overstepping if they issue corrective notices to non-compliant firms.

A Positive Period in a Pivotal Year of Change

The latest data from SensingSG indicates a nation becoming more optimistic and financially confident, with rising satisfaction in government performance. People appear to be happy with how Singapore is navigating economic challenges and transitions in leadership, and overall sentiment remains cautiously optimistic.

As always, Blackbox will continue to monitor and analyse developments closely to bring you the best decision intelligence on what matters to Singapore. Stay tuned as we dive deeper into this quarter’s data and bring you many more articles, reports and multimedia content on our analysis.

In the meantime, you can:

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Feel-Good Factor Returns in Singapore Amid Economic and Leadership Shifts