Separate Lives, Uncertain Futures: Does Covid-19 Align or Differentiate the Lives of Low- and Higher-Wage Young Workers?

Abstract

With labour markets already polarised in industrialised economies, if Covid-19 worsens this polarity, young people could be more severely affected. This is because their entry into a post-pandemic economy has ramifications for their divergent or convergent career trajectories far into the future. Therefore, on the premise that work life is central to quality of life, this article assesses the effects of low wage and Covid-19 on the psychological outlook of young people in Singapore. We found that Covid-19 did worsen polarisation. On average, higher wage workers telecommuted more and had more work, but low wage young workers bore the brunt of earnings loss and job disruption. Low wage respondents also experienced poorer psychological well-being, even after adverse child experiences, highest educational qualification and occupation type were controlled for. However, higher wage workers might be more psychologically affected by the Covid-19 impacts. This might be because low earning workers are more accustomed to employment instability. These findings suggest the urgency of policy attention to help low wage young workers recover from Covid-19.