As part of our research process, we disseminated a survey to find out what were the preliminary sentiments on the ground about hawkers. The survey collected 190 responses in total and this gave us some insight about what Singaporeans feel. Here we will be delving deeper to identify the main issues that arose from our findings.

 

1. Hawker Culture is important to the Singapore Identity

 

A large theme that surfaced from the survey was that respondents viewed hawker centres to be very important to them in Singapore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hawker centres are a huge part of life, where 93.1% of our respondents visit the hawker centre at least once a week and 20.5% visit the hawker centre at least four times a week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Figure 2, perceptions of hawker centres were measured where responders associated hawker centres to be a place that provides affordable food (94.2%), tasty food (88.4%), and a place that provides variety in food (74.7%). It is worthy to note that the hawker centre is also thought to be unique (33.7%).

 

Delving deeper on what it means that hawker centres are ‘unique’, we asked our respondents how important they viewed hawker culture is to their identity as a Singaporean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Figure 3, 83.1% of our respondents agrees or strongly agrees that the hawker culture is important to their identity as a Singaporean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite overwhelming response that the hawker centre is closely held to the identity of being Singaporean, 41.1% agree or strongly agree that the hawker culture is dying out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite mixed perceptions on the current situation of hawker culture in Singapore, there is an overwhelming view where 85.3% agreed that there is a need to preserve the hawker culture in Singapore. Thus, this finding drives our research to answer the following questions: Why is the hawker culture so important to Singaporeans? Is hawker culture in Singapore truly dying out? What are the reasons behind this?

 

2. Employability

 

One of the main issues that have arisen as a result of our data findings is the issue of employability. Although previous findings suggested that the hawker culture is a valued place and its culture should be preserved, findings also reveal a gap where many would not consider being a hawker to be a career path to take up in life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As can be seen from Figure 6, 75.8% indicated that they had no consideration of becoming a hawker. The main reasons for this were the lack of career progression, lack of interest and the challenging conditions of being a hawker as highlighted in Figure 7. Such a view formed the ground for our interview questions in our field research.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, we were also cognizant of the fact that some might actually consider taking up the trade and thus factored that into our consideration. One of the most prominent drivers to be a hawker was passion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thus far, our survey results show that encouraging younger generations or even Singaporeans at large to take on the trade remains a largely challenging endeavour. Additionally 86% of our respondents did not see much of a need for having more young hawkers.  This calls into question issues of sustainability of our hawker centres with a distinct dearth of individuals to whom the older generation will be able to pass their secret recipes on to.

 

A small minority of respondents, 19.5% (Figure 6), indicated some willingness to take on the hawker trade. With the advent of an ageing population and more hawker centres being open, the issue of having successors to keep our hawker culture strong and alive is called into question.

 

Though there have been counter movements such as the rise of hipster hawker centres and the presence of some young hawkers on the scene. It seems that many do not perceive being a hawker as being a career option.