They deliver food, care for the sick, and remove and dispose of our rubbish, but it has taken a pandemic to drive home the importance of their role. Two in three respondents in a recent survey agree that their perceptions of essential workers have "improved a lot" or "improved a little" since Covid-19 started. But applauding them is not enough; essential workers here and around the world have long been taken for granted, with many languishing at the bottom of the income ladder. A key challenge has been to lift the wages of such vulnerable workers. Doing so is in the interest of a cohesive society, and Singapore can tap the spirit of solidarity demonstrated during Covid-19 to push ahead and do better for them.

The challenge is made harder by the fact that unlike other advanced countries where median wages have stagnated, middle-income Singaporeans have continued to pull ahead. This means that lower-income Singaporeans at the 20th percentile of the income ladder, despite seeing real incomes increase over the last decade, are playing a game of catch-up. Ensuring that they do not fall behind requires a combination of approaches and not just a minimum wage model. These include expanding the Progressive Wage Model, or "minimum wage-plus"; Workfare - in effect a negative income tax to boost the incomes of low-wage workers; and economic strategies to create jobs and ensure Singapore stays competitive.