Singapore Workforce Development Agency (Amendment) Bill

Order for Second Reading read.

12.30 pm

The Minister for Manpower (Mr Lim Swee Say): Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time".

We live in a world of greater uncertainty and faster change today. Last month, I attended the Group of 20 (G20) Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting, and the mood was one of concern.

Seven years after the Global Financial Crisis, G20 economic growth is still lower than before the crisis, at 3.2% per annum versus 4.1% per annum before the crisis. Unemployment at 5.8% has barely fallen from the peak of the crisis of 6%. Labour force participation is also lower than before the crisis. Across the G20 countries, there is said to be a shortfall of 50 million jobs.

Back home, our economy and workforce are in transition, too. Our workforce is ageing at one of the fastest rates in the world. Workforce growth is falling from 4% per year in the earlier part of the decade, to around 1% per year by 2020. Importantly, each generation of Singaporeans is aspiring to do better, with better education, better jobs and better incomes.

To avoid ending up with the challenges that many countries are now facing of high youth unemployment, sticky unemployment and declining labour force participation, we must get three things right.

First, we need to quicken the transformation of industry, to make every job a better job. The Ministry of Trade and Industry and sector agencies are leading this effort to create the new industries, new businesses, and new jobs of the future.

Second, we will need to quicken the transformation of the workforce, to make every worker a better worker. The Ministry of Education (MOE) is leading the effort to inculcate lifelong learning, from pre-employment education to professional and continuing education. SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) is the new agency tasked with this.

Mdm Speaker, as we transform the industry and the workforce, it is crucial that we keep the two in sync. If workforce transformation lags behind industry transformation, workers will miss the opportunities for better jobs while businesses will not have the manpower they need. We would end up with higher structural unemployment and an over-reliance on foreign manpower.

On the other hand, if industry transformation lags behind workforce transformation, there will be a shortage of quality jobs for our people, leading to higher under-employment. Therefore, the third thing we must do right is to match every better worker to every better job, and make every career a better career for all Singaporeans.

Mdm Speaker, Workforce Singapore, or WSG in short, under the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), will sharpen its focus and strive to minimise mismatches and maximise matching between jobs and skills, workers and businesses. It will be both pro-worker and pro-business.

Clauses 9 and 10 of the Bill provide for the functions and powers of WSG. I will now outline three key areas WSG will strive to do more and do better for our workers and businesses.

First, for our workers, WSG will not only help individuals find jobs but also help them build careers at all life stages. Lifelong career conversion will become more widespread in the future economy. Holding a single job or career through life will become less common. The new reality is that workers may need not only to switch between jobs and employers, but also between types of industries and modes of employment, be it traditional or emerging. Today, the Wokforce Development Agency (WDA), Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and partners are actively helping jobseekers to find jobs. This will continue under WSG. At the same time, WSG will do more to help them manage their career transitions throughout their lives.

Second, at the workforce level, WSG will strengthen the inclusiveness of our local workforce in the face of disruptive change. Today, WDA serves many in the workforce, be it young or old workers, professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) or non-PMETs. It has also built up partnerships to support special worker segments, such as with SG Enable to support the hiring of persons with disabilities, and with the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (SCORE) and the Industrial and Services Co-operative Society (ISCOS) to help ex-offenders return to work. Again, this will continue.

But we recognise that disruptive technology and innovation will bring not just new opportunities, but new threats, too, to all groups of workers, including PMETs. If we are not proactive, there is a danger that some will be displaced and made redundant by technology, and our workforce may become less inclusive. WSG will, therefore, reach out to help every segment of workers, to adapt and upgrade with technology, so that we can all benefit and be part of the transformation of our economy and workforce.

Third, at the industry and company levels, WSG will help businesses create better quality jobs to attract and build a stronger Singaporean Core. This is a key priority for firms as workforce growth will slow and competition for manpower will only become keener. WSG will support companies to adopt new business models, be more manpower-lean and create progressive workplaces to fully utilise the skills and talent of our workers.

Mdm Speaker, moving forward, our workers can expect WSG to be worker-centric, covering all their career stages. So, whether you are in your 20s looking for your first job, or in your 30s looking for your next job, or in your 40s or 50s looking for your next career, or in your 60s or beyond looking to make your next contribution, WSG can support you.

Industry and businesses can, likewise, expect WSG to be employer-centric, helping them to develop their manpower pipeline, sector by sector. Working in partnership, WSG and the sector agencies and tripartite partners are developing industry manpower plans under the respective Industry Transformation Maps. These plans will articulate the jobs and careers we strive to create in the future, for us to help match workers – both new job entrants and mid-careerists – to these jobs and career opportunities.

WSG will also pay attention to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It will continue to help companies and clusters of firms to become more manpower-lean and innovative, such as through the Lean Enterprise Development Scheme. In addition, it will work with businesses to redesign jobs and improve human resource (HR) practices so that they can turn their human resources into human capital.

Last, but not least, WSG will leverage new technology and platforms to widen the reach and impact of its services. Beyond physical touch points, WSG will develop new service models, such as e-services and online career fairs, and also provide timely and customised information and career guidance to individuals at different stages of their career. It will also move towards leveraging data analytics and smart technology to find new ways to optimise matching between jobseekers and employers.

Mdm Speaker, our economy is at a critical juncture where we face both global economic uncertainty and domestic workforce changes. Our journey of transformation is underway. Unions, employers and the Government are partnering one another through a constructive spirit of trust and mutual alignment to support our workers and businesses.

Partnership will be a key feature in all of WSG's work. Within the Government, it will partner economic agencies on industry transformation, and with MOE and SSG on lifelong learning. Across each industry, WSG will work with employers, business chambers and trade associations, and unions to deepen ties and achieve win-win outcomes. In employment facilitation, it will partner best-in-class employment agencies to help workers secure better jobs, and technology providers to expand its effectiveness and reach.

But the most important partner will be the workers of Singapore. We need every individual to play his or her part to adapt and grow in this new environment.

With a dedicated agency in WSG and the collective endeavours of all our partners, I am confident that we can do more than before to match the aspirations of our people and the needs of our businesses. Together, we can make sure that the innovative growth of the economy is also inclusive growth for our people. Mdm Speaker, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

Mdm Speaker: Mr Patrick Tay.

12.41 pm

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (West Coast): Mdm Speaker, I would like to declare my interest as a board member of the WDA.

I rise in support of the Workforce Development Agency (Amendment) Bill which reorganises WDA as WSG for short and refocuses its functions and duties in relation to SSG. I am glad to note that WSG's central mission is to enable Singaporeans to have quality jobs and careers and that it will ensure that industry, skills and jobs are transformed in sync. I particularly laud the fact that WSG will work towards ensuring locals remain in employment through the provision of employment facilitation and career services.

The work of the new WSG is extremely crucial as Singapore enters into this period of economic uncertainty. Retrenchments were at 15,580 for 2015 and in the last four quarters alone have exceeded the 20,000 mark, with more than 10,000 contributed in the first half of this year. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that we have cyclical forces, structural forces as well as economic restructuring and transformation all in one go.

The silver lining is that we have a tight labour market situation, foreign manpower is being contained and unemployment is relatively low compared to many other developed countries. Likewise, job creation continues as we see more than 60,000 jobs posted on the National Jobs Bank alone. Despite the large number of job postings, especially of professionals, managers and executives (PME) positions, one key trend, however, is the rise in the number of PMEs being affected by both cyclical and structural unemployment. Last year, among the 9,090 residents laid off, 71% were PMETs.

At our National Trade Union Congress' (NTUC's) U PME Centre as well as e2i, we have also seen a surge in the past year in the number of PMEs coming to us to seek help, especially in the area of finding job placements.

This year, I foresee that figure to stay high if not higher than last year, as the industries, sectors and positions affected by layoffs are mostly PMET ones. With the rapidly ageing workforce, I am particularly worried for those who are above 40 years of age as they take a much longer time to find employment and are more vulnerable to layoffs. I, therefore, submit that WSG should do more and do even better to help PMEs, particularly those above age 40, to connect them to good jobs.

I submit that WSG needs to find ways to address and overcome three mismatches. They are the mismatch of skills, the mismatch of jobs and the mismatch of expectations.

Despite many jobs posted on the National Jobs Bank, most jobs posted require some form of experience, skillset or expertise and, therefore, many Singaporeans may not fit the bill. Local PMEs may lack the requisite skills and experience and, possibly, the regional and international experience. This contributes to the structural challenge that we face as a country and I foresee we will face in the years to come.

Second, mismatch of expectations. My colleagues at our U PME Centre and e2i have highlighted that there are some PMEs who go to them with unrealistic expectations in terms of the type of jobs and conditions. Then, I also hear of employers who lament and do not hire mature PMEs because they claim many of them cannot change, they cannot adapt to the new requirements expected of them, and a host of other ageist remarks. There are also companies which do not take proactive steps to redesign, recreate or resize the jobs or manage the change. Our society, too, must recognise and expect that we have a growing ageing workforce and that there will be an ever increasing number of PMEs, especially mature ones, in our midst.

Third, the mismatch of jobs. There are cases where PMEs are not well-matched with their current jobs. They do jobs which they have neither passion nor interest for. Sometimes, the job size is too small or the quality of the job is not good. They become less motivated and less productive. There are those whose characters or personalities do not quite fit or match the kind of requirements the job entails. Then again, there are those who are over-skilled or over-qualified for the jobs, resulting in an underemployment situation.

With WSG, I have three suggestions for it to do more and do better. First, I am particularly glad that many Professional Conversion Programmes (PCPs) have been rolled out under Adapt and Grow but I feel the Adapt and Grow programme also needs to adapt and grow. PCPs will have to be even more responsive, relevant and flexible across more sectors and more PME jobs because new jobs are created in new areas daily and we have what we call the "3G" jobs; jobs which are going, going, gone on a daily basis.

We can and should mount greater efforts, dedicate more resources and do even better in facilitating, connecting and placing PMEs into good jobs. From my NTUC's U PME Centre team, I also know that some of the advertised PCPs in certain sectors, such as social services and healthcare are already completely filled and not taking in more Singaporeans. I urge more employers to step forward to partner our sectoral committees to offer even more PCPs in this tight labour market situation.

Second, the Career Support Programme (CSP) is a good scheme to incentivise employers to hire PMEs especially those above 40 years of age. However, I feel there is a general lack of awareness by employers and PMEs alike on CSP despite it being implemented since October last year and further enhanced after the Committee of Supply debate this year. I suggest we strengthen our outreach of CSP. Besides wage support, emotional support of unemployed PMEs is also vital. The National Trade Unions Congress (NTUC) piloted a Career Activation Programme last year where we provide emotional and confidence building through a peer support network of volunteers who themselves have been through layoffs and are now in good jobs, whom we call career activists. We have expanded and extended this programme so as to confront the structural unemployment challenge. We look forward to WSG as well as potential employers partnering us in our journey.

Third, a new clause is inserted by virtue of the amendment Bill. It is "to promote or undertake research in Singapore into matters relating to the Singapore workforce." I have articulated in this House before on more than one occasion and am urging again for WSG to undertake a research study into non-time-based underemployment in Singapore so that we are able to ascertain whether there is, indeed, this situation in Singapore with more Singaporeans being higher skilled and higher educated. The desired outcome is one where the potential of every worker is fully realised and maximised. Mdm Speaker, in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] With economic uncertainty and a weak global demand, retrenchment among Singapore's PMEs will rise. The situation is aggravated by unemployment caused by cyclical and structural forces as well as economic transformation.

I hope the new WSG can pay attention to three areas.

First, WSG should put in more resources to help PMEs to find a job that can maximise their potential. Second, the Adapt and Grow Programme and the PCP should be more responsive, relevant, flexible and comprehensive. We should also strengthen the outreach of the CSP so that more employers and employees can benefit. Third, I urge MOM to pay attention to the underemployment situation for highly educated people.

In conclusion, our objective is for our workers to respect and enjoy their job, maximise their potential and cultivate a ready, relevant and resilient mindset.

(In English): In conclusion, with the new WSG, we can and should use this opportunity to do more and do better to develop what I call the "Gen R" worker, one who is ready, relevant and resilient: Ready with new Skills, Relevant for new Jobs and Resilient to new changes. With that, I strongly support this Bill.

Mdm Speaker: Mr Desmond Choo.

12.50 pm

Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines): Mdm Speaker, since WDA was established in 2003, it has been instrumental in training, re-skilling and up-skilling our workers. The establishment of WSG is timely, as the Minister has correctly put it, as the Government tries to steer our economy through choppy waters today, and into unchartered territory tomorrow.

We have put in place many schemes to help our workers to get jobs. Yet, there is friction in matching our unemployed to the job vacancies. Like Mr Patrick Tay has mentioned, the number of PMETs getting retrenched has increased. It is also getting harder to place them into the next jobs. Schemes like CSP are helpful. However, we need to expand options for our workers. Indeed, we need to up our game in employment facilitation.

Therefore, I support the Minister's plan to work with best-in-class private placement companies to enhance our national employment facilitation capabilities. In Australia, for example, the JobActive Programme has achieved more than 200,000 job placements since it was started in July 2015. They link jobseekers with job network providers that are based in 1,700 locations across the country. These providers are given cash incentives for successful matching. I need to find out how the Ministry will work with the private placement companies to better facilitate employment facilitation in Singapore.

The larger and more enduring challenge, as highlighted by the Manpower Minister before, is in building a strong Singapore Core which can contribute to the overall Singapore workforce. Enforcement and guidance for Triple Weak companies are, indeed, necessary. And we need to also provide updates to the public on the outcomes of these enforcement actions so that not only is work done but also seen to be done.

More important in building a Singapore Core is to ensure the paths to good jobs in thriving sectors remain open to our young Singaporeans. It is important to note that "strong" need not always refer to numbers. Emerging or foreign businesses may require a larger foreign talent pool at the beginning due to local manpower constraints. However, as the business matures, companies must increasingly localise its workforce. Its job profile should also reflect a Singapore Core. This is especially important in sectors that are growing and can provide job opportunities that are aligned with the aspirations of young Singaporeans, for example, in the information technology (IT) and finance sectors.

One way in which we can build a stronger Singapore Core is to ensure that our graduates and mid-level professionals have a level playing field. I am not advocating overly protectionist and protective measures. Being protectionist harms our long-term viability as a business hub. Yet, without further measures, our young Singaporeans and workers may find it challenging to enter Employment Pass-dominated sectors like the infocomm technology (ICT) or move up the ranks in that industry.

Foreign applicants usually have more job experience than our fresh graduates. Landing the job itself is an important first step for our locals. Thereafter, committed company training and career pathways can help them anchor the core of a company. Furthermore, certain high growth and critical sectors such as ICT, needs to be managed strategically. I would like to think that Singapore can only benefit from having more IT bosses like my fellow Parliamentarian, Ms Jessica Tan.

Currently, we know that there is no foreign worker quota for the Employment Pass (EP) category. To help WSG in its mission, rather than a blunt broad sectoral approach, would the Minister also consider a more nuanced and targeted approach – implementing a quota for EP holders, especially in high growth and strategic sectors like IT? This can highlight to companies that they need to not only grow their businesses but also commit to growing Singaporean talent. Importantly, it allows our young Singaporeans to have a more level playing field to succeed. With this, I support the Bill.

Mdm Speaker: Mr Thomas Chua.

12.55 pm

Mr Thomas Chua Kee Seng (Nominated Member): Mdm Speaker, in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Madam, WDA has contributed a great deal to the upgrading of Singapore's workforce. Now, in keeping with the changes in its role, it has been renamed to WSG. I support this decision.

After restructuring, WSG will be responsible for building the Singaporean Core in the workforce for all trades and industries, assist enterprises to maintain their competitiveness, and not have an over-reliance on manpower. This is a role of great responsibility.

Under the double whammy of economic restructuring and manpower shortage, local enterprises need to change their business mindsets and management models. Some businessmen react fast and act swiftly and have already made their adjustments. But some others are still blinded to this reality, adhering to the notion of "there will be a way out once we reach the bottom of the mountain", and moving one step at a time, asking for help only when problems arise. I hope that WSG could find a way to communicate with these businessmen effectively, convincing them that a mindset change is necessary to counter the challenges of an ageing population, and to create more attractive employment opportunities for Singaporeans.

These are areas where high value-added industries and emerging industries have a distinct advantage. Multinational corporations (MNCs) and large enterprises have always had the greatest appeal to job-seekers. Those which need WSG's help most are the traditional industries and SMEs. Moreover, these industries cannot be assessed in terms of economic gain but their social contribution. Methods used by some large corporations may not apply to traditional industries or SMEs. For example, the Government encourages enterprises to mechanise and automate; SMEs can buy the machines but have no use for them. It gets even more problematic when the equipment become faulty and become intermittent pains of the overall restructuring process.

During the restructuring process, SMEs realise that change is necessary, but may not have the means to implement the changes. With the setting up of WSG, there will be a specific Government agency to steer enterprises towards creating good job opportunities for Singaporeans, and I hope that with everyone pitching in to work hard, the situation could be changed for the better.

However, a crucial factor is how everyone could play a complementary role. In the battlefield, businessmen need weapons and ammunition. WDA needs to assist businessmen to upgrade their artillery and equipment, while the SSG should be responsible for manufacturing the bullets. This shows that MOM and MOE have to work very closely together in order to reap real benefits for the business community.

Mdm Speaker: Ms Jessica Tan.

1.00 pm

Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo (East Coast): Mdm Speaker, thank you for allowing me to speak on this Bill.

With what has been termed the "Fourth Industrial Revolution", Singapore, together with many countries globally, is experiencing disruptive changes to business models which are having a profound impact on jobs and employment opportunities.

It is therefore timely that the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (Amendment) Bill seeks to reorganise the WDA as WSG and refocus its functions and duties to enable Singaporeans to have quality jobs and careers and to ensure that organisations can become more manpower-lean and remain competitive.

This change in alignment with the formation of SSG, a new Statutory Board under MOE taking over WDA's functions of adult continuing education and training and the promotion of lifelong learning and the administration of Skills Development Fund, will still require the new WSG to work in close collaboration with SSG. I am glad that clause 9 calls out explicitly the expectation for WSG to, quote, "cooperate and collaborate with the proposed SSG", as it "discharges its function under the SkillsFuture Singapore Agency Bill 2016 when enacted".

We are already experiencing evolving skills demand, given the rapid changes in both current and emerging jobs. As the Minister had mentioned, in order for WSG to be effective in its function of strengthening the Singaporean Core and promoting the development, competitiveness and employability of the Singapore workforce, WSG will have to work in close alignment with the proposed SSG in matching manpower supply with industry demand for both new entrants as well as the existing workforce.

As we discuss the functions for WSG, I would like to touch on three key phenomena that are impacting employment as well as organisational effectiveness and risks. One, the impact of societal, geographical and technological changes. Two, the "uberisation" of the workforce as described by John Bremen from Willis Towers Watson. And third, the impact on women in the workforce.

As highlighted in the World Economic Report 2016 on "The Future of Jobs, Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution", demographics and societal trends, for example longevity and ageing societies, a growing middle class, flexible work arrangements, rapid urbanisation, women economic power and aspirations, concurrent with the technological revolution are already and will be expected to have a significant impact on jobs, ranging from a significant job creation to job displacement, and from heightened labour productivity to widening skills gaps.

The rapid pace of change and business model disruptions are simultaneously impacting skills required for both current and emerging new roles across different industries.

It is positive that one of the key functions of WSG as indicated in clause 9 is promoting and facilitating the adoption of human resources (HR) best practices, that is, focusing on recruitment, training, development and managing talent. Because against the landscape of disruption to both employment and business models, businesses, too, will need to play an active role in developing talent regardless of the employment trends or they would be left with a talent gap and an inability to capitalise on the new opportunities emerging.

Even as WSG drives efforts to help Singaporeans assume quality jobs and careers, while addressing industry manpower needs, the employment landscape itself is changing. Models and platforms for how work is organised is changing. We are already seeing an increasing use of contract workers and contingent staff by many companies, both large and small, for lower level and even PME roles, and the emergence of new platforms connecting skills to consumers who need their service. A well-known example is Uber. This changes the relationship of companies with employees and also the face of the workforce. Employee attraction, retention and engagement will change. This, in turn, if not managed effectively, will impact companies in the quality of their products and services, safety, customer experience and increased business cost.

While WSG works with businesses to structure and design jobs to fully tap the value of skills of each worker in order to enhance the quality of jobs and develop talent and improve sustainability, productivity and innovation, there is also a need to understand the needs and challenges faced by workers in a landscape of new and alternative work arrangements.

With the emerging employment trends, there will be a need to enable individuals to build and manage their careers as employees, as contract workers or even freelance or independent workers. There is a need for policies to provide benefits and protection for the diverse work arrangements and how people work.

We have to start thinking of and separating worker benefits and protection from employment with a company. This has larger implications not just for jobs but the job security and financial stability of the individual worker as well as economic and social stability with the growing income gap between those with relevant skills and those without.

The final point that I would like to touch on is that of the disproportionate negative impact on women. The World Economic Forum's Industry Gender Gap Study, the first study of its kind representing more than 13 million employees in nine industry sectors and 15 economies has reported that labour disruptions that we have been discussing will have a disproportionate negative impact on women.

This may be explained in part by the fact that the roles most at risk from automation and disintermediation are held in larger proportion by women or that women are relatively under-represented in jobs that are expected to have the most potential for growth, for example, in computing and engineering; and that women will still make up a smaller share of the workforce. It is therefore imperative that WSG works with companies to tackle barriers to tapping the talent pool of women, given that we, in Singapore especially, have a highly educated and skilled female population in Singapore.

Madam, this amendment Bill is necessary and is more than just focusing on the formation of a dedicated agency to provide an enabling environment to support companies to be successful and ensuring an inclusive workforce.

It will also require individuals to be proactive in learning and owning their careers, and companies to actively invest in tapping all segments of their workforce in training and re-skilling in order to be able to take advantage of new opportunities and to stay competitive. As the Minister so aptly put it, the key is partnership. Partnership to achieve win-win outcomes for all. Madam, I support the Bill.

Mdm Speaker: Dr Intan Mokhtar.

1.07 pm

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio): Mdm Speaker, the functions and powers of the WSG are significant and impactful, specifically in helping our people remain employable and employed. I support the renaming as well as the revised and enhanced functions and powers of the WSG which complement those of the proposed SSG.

There are, however, a few suggestions that I have which I hope MOM will consider in finalising the functions and powers of WSG.

For clause 9, I am particularly heartened that among the objectives of WSG is to help Singapore Citizens and residents be employable through services and facilities to help them find and keep jobs, and also by working closely with employers and other relevant commerce or public sector agencies to identify and promote the enhancement of industry-specific skills.

While I strongly support this, I would also urge the Ministry to focus not just on employment, reemployment and employability matters, but to consider including doing meaningful work post-retirement as part of WSG's initiatives.

For instance, retired seniors can be trained and assisted to take up positions as healthcare case managers for other seniors who have chronic illnesses or other health conditions. These senior case managers are the ones to regularly and consistently visit the other seniors with chronic illnesses or health conditions to monitor their overall health, vital statistics, check on their diets and medications and whether they are following up with their doctors or healthcare providers.

These senior case managers may not necessarily get a fixed monthly salary but may instead get allowances for transport, meals and time spent, very similar to our existing Pioneer Generation Ambassadors. This, certainly, helps in active ageing.

In addition, retired seniors and stay-at-home mothers or fathers can also be trained to become community caregivers for the elderly or for young children. They can be the ones to provide some caregiving relief to full-time caregivers and support them in their work. Similarly, they may not necessarily get a fixed monthly salary but instead allowances for transport, expenses and time spent.

As our society ages and as our total fertility rate continue to remain low, we need a lot more social and community support from one another and we need to look at how such support can complement employment and employability for our people.

For clause 10, I am encouraged that more will be done to help our job seekers. This is especially so in the current challenging employment market. I hope that such employment assistance will not be confined to just blue-collar workers or para-professionals and that PMEs will also be provided help, including PMEs who are in their 40s or 50s.

For the past six months or so, through house visits and Meet-the-People Sessions (MPS), I have met increasingly more PMEs, especially those in their 40s and 50s who have lost their jobs, been retrenched and could not find employment thereafter, even though they have taken up upgrading courses. They need help, largely because they still need to support young school-going children and elderly parents. I hope WSG can help this group learn new skills and embrace the use of new and smart technologies that can help them in their jobs and careers.

Mdm Speaker, notwithstanding this few suggestions that I have, I fully support the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (Amendment) Bill.

Mdm Speaker: Mr Louis Ng.

1.11 pm

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Mdm Speaker, I welcome the restructuring efforts for Government bodies to specialise in their respective roles, enabling Singapore to have a more targeted push to develop a stronger workforce.

I commend the move to transfer WDA's previously held role in education and training to a new agency. I believe that having separate agencies with a more targeted focus will allow for more robust decision-making. I welcome the amendments, which enables the new agency to play a more extensive role in helping job-seekers find and keep jobs.

In clauses 9 and 10, increasing workforce productivity is clearly stated as a key objective for the agency. In this current climate of slower employment growth and economic uncertainties, it is important for the Government to focus our efforts on boosting productivity and to set up more safeguards than ever to protect our local workforce.

Reiterating what Minister Lim Swee Say said in the Budget debates this year, we need a new breakthrough in productivity growth, or low economic growth will become the new norm, as our international competitiveness will be at risk.

While there have been strong efforts by the Government to increase automation to increase productivity, we must recognise that there are businesses for which there is no or little substitute for human workers. In particular, SMEs and companies in retail, hospitality, food and beverage and construction.

Interestingly, it was mentioned earlier this year that it is precisely these same domestic sectors, such as retail and construction, which were the laggards in productivity growth. In this regard, I commend efforts to look beyond automation to increase productivity to areas, such as job re-design, as stated in clauses 9(c) and 10(c), to render work more fulfilling and meaningful.

Beyond job redesign, however, I would like to ask the Minister what else the Ministry will be doing to help businesses for which there is no or little substitute for human workers, to increase their productivity.

We should also focus our efforts on fostering innovation. Innovative economies tend to have higher productivity growth, measured by indices, such as the intensity of research and development (R&D), patent activity and entrepreneurship. Singapore tends to do very well in both R&D and patent activity, but perhaps less well in entrepreneurship.

Young Singaporeans, relative to their peers in countries, such as the United States, still lack the tenacity and boldness to leap into the riskier field of entrepreneurship, where many unknowns lurk. Without the necessary support, many potential Singaporean Mark Zuckerbergs would give up and too many brilliant ideas would go undiscovered.

WSG will be in close contact with our workforce and companies, and while fostering a spirit of entrepreneurship is not the core focus of WSG, I hope that the two new agencies proposed to strengthen our workforce can also work with SPRING Singapore to look into how we can foster amongst our young a spirit of entrepreneurship, a generation daring enough to step out of their comfort zone and able to intuitively think out of the box.

Lastly, I would like to raise a point regarding the link between workplace satisfaction and productivity. Surveys by Randstad consistently place Singaporeans as one of the least satisfied workforces in the Asia-Pacific. In a 2016 survey, two of the top attributes employees look for were a "good work-life balance" and a "pleasant atmosphere" – both of which Singapore employers scored relatively poorly on. This was not unexpected, as almost half of our workforce reported that they were working more than the MOM's recommended limit of 44 working hours per week.

In a survey conducted last year, three in 10 Singapore employees were thinking of resigning, citing reasons, such as poor leadership and disinterest in their job. Meanwhile, this problem also seems to plague newer entrants into the job market – the millennials – of whom a high seven in 10 said they were willing to move overseas for the right job.

In a country lauded for its great wealth and top-class quality of life, Singapore's disenchanted workforce is perhaps the white elephant in the room. This is something any new agency with a mandate to help our employees must take a serious look at. To remain competitive, we need to ensure that our workforce is not one which is simply productive, but also fulfilled and serve their roles with enthusiasm with collective achievement.

There are many high-profile cases where a happy workforce can transform a company, and this can be applied to Singapore's economy. In this regard, I would like to ask the Minister if the new agency will look into how we can turn the tide of these negative survey results on workplace satisfaction.

Madam, I have complete trust that the proposed WSG will thrive under MOM and will bring Singapore forward to a new era of strong productivity and economic growth.

Mdm Speaker: Er Dr Lee Bee Wah.

1.16 pm

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon): As SkillsFuture gets its own agency, WDA will be renamed WSG and focuses on employment and workplace practices.

I would like to take this opportunity to bring up an issue that has always been discussed by my residents, especially those with young children, that is, flexi-work.

Research has shown that flexi-work can increase productivity. In one study, call-centre workers increased their productivity by 13% when they were allowed to work from home and that is just short-term productivity. Long-term productivity probably increases as well, as workers feel happier, can balance their personal lives and are less likely to quit.

Flexi-work can benefit our society in other ways, too. Workers can find more time to pursue lifelong learning or have kids. Many people have told me that they cannot make it to their children's childcare centre on time.

Just last night during my MPS, a resident came and spoke to me. She said that she has to reach the childcare centre by 6.00 pm in Yishun and she works in town and, for every minute that she is late, she will have to pay $5. So, she said it is very difficult. And if they can work from home, then they can work the same amount of time and still make it to their children's childcare centre. Even peak hour traffic might decrease.

It is not just about working from home. Flexi-hours in office will help as well. I have a friend who lives in the United Kingdom (UK) and he recently came to Singapore. He and his wife have a three-year-old daughter and they take turns to pick their daughter up from the childcare centre. He said that on the days that he has to pick up his daughter, he will go into office two hours earlier and he will leave two hours earlier. So, in fact, the childcare centre, according to him, closes at 4.00 pm, but they have no problems in bringing their daughter home.

So, if we can have similar flexi-hours, I am sure many of our residents will be happier to have more babies. How many percent of our companies can allow this? A survey in 2014 showed that 47% of companies in Singapore offer at least one form of flexible work arrangements.

But if we look deeper into the survey, most of the flexible arrangements offered were part-time work. Part-time work is not suited for everyone. It often means less pay, lower bonuses and no promotions.

For people who want to work full-time, only 12% of companies offer flexible work hours. Less than 10% offer staggered hours and permanent working from home arrangements. If we want to harness the benefits of flexi-work, then these numbers need to go up by quite a lot.

Furthermore, companies offering certain options do not mean employees will take them up. Another survey in 2014 showed that, of the companies that offer flexible working arrangements, only about 15% of workers make use of long-term flexible arrangements.

This could be due to the culture of "face time" in local companies. Many employees feel that they have to be in the office until the bosses leave the office. We work, on average, 44.3 hours a week, and that is 50% more than the Germans. But our gross domestic product is not 50% more than theirs! This shows that we are not as productive during office hours.

I urge employers to make their culture friendlier to flexi-work, and employees to boldly ask for flexi-work arrangements they need. Some countries have laws that say employees cannot be penalised for asking for flexi-work. Perhaps, we can look into this. I note that the Government has provided more grants to employers who introduce flexi-work and I look forward to the positive results. Allow me to summarise in Chinese.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] A survey revealed that companies that allow workers to have flexi working hours and to work long-term from home account for less than 15%. If this ratio can be increased, I believe that it will increase our productivity and also enable our people to enjoy better work-life balance and thereby encourage more people to join the workforce.

The Government has already increased the grants to companies which have flexi-work arrangements. I hope this can work. Moreover, we should also encourage employees to actively approach the employers to discuss flexi-work arrangements so that they do not have to resign.

As I have said earlier, I have a friend who lives in the UK and came to Singapore recently. He and his wife have an adorable three-year-old daughter. He said he and his wife have to pick up their daughter from the childcare centre on time. When it is my friend's turn to pick up his daughter, he would go to office two hours earlier so that he can leave the office two hours earlier to pick up his daughter. He said that this is a very common practice in the UK.

We hope that such practices can also become common in Singapore and hopefully, it can encourage Singaporeans to have more children.

(In English): Madam, I support this Bill and hope WSG will further promote all types of flexible working arrangements.

Mdm Speaker: Minister Lim.

1.23 pm

Mr Lim Swee Say: Mdm Speaker, I thank the Members for their support of this Bill.

Firstly, on the issue of extending more support to PMETs, I agree with Members Mr Patrick Tay, Dr Intan Mokhtar and Mr Desmond Choo on their call for WSG to do more and to do better for PMETs.

As I have mentioned earlier, we are cognisant of the issues faced by PMETs, especially those mid-career, in their 40s and 50s. At the same time, we also recognise that with the faster pace of restructuring, many of them in their mid-career will be affected even more. This is the reason why we will speed up the process of extending PCP to even more sectors, as the Member Mr Patrick Tay mentioned, in terms of how we can be more responsive and flexible.

This is our intention. We are going to customise PCP sector by sector because the issues involved in professional conversion vary across sectors. So, we intend to customise for that.

In the case of CSP, I agree with Mr Patrick Tay that we ought to find ways to create greater awareness. I assure the Member that we are working on some breakthrough ideas so that CSP will become more widespread, not just among the employees, but also the employers as well.

At the same time, I also want to emphasise one point again as we extend additional support to PMETs. WSG will do its very best, but no matter how much it does, on its own, will not be enough. We intend to strengthen our partnerships. For example, in the case of NTUC, the U PME Centre is doing a great job under the leadership of Mr Patrick Tay. I hope that WSG can, likewise, extend our partnerships with U PME Centre and all the other partners as well.

Mr Desmond Choo suggested that we should strengthen public-private partnerships in job placements for PMETs. I fully agree. We studied the experience of Australia and the UK. We concluded that with the right design and incentive structure, it is possible to encourage employment agencies to be more jobseeker-centric, rather than client-centric. We are now working very actively with the industry and we intend to partner some of these "best in class" employment agencies. Soon, you will hear some of our new initiatives in this area.

Ms Jessica Tan spoke about the impact of disruptive change at the workplace on workers, all sorts of workers, especially for women. Again, I fully agree. In fact, we share the same concerns about job creation as well as job disruption. This is the reason why we are going to pay greater attention to not just a traditional work arrangement, but emerging work arrangements as well mentioned by Ms Jessica Tan – freelancing, contract workers, and independent workers.

Ms Jessica Tan may be happy to hear that WDA, or the soon-to-be WSG, has formed partnerships with associations and the NTUC to reach out to the freelancing sector. We even customise our PCP for the freelancers working in the creative industries. More, obviously, will be done. I also want to assure Ms Jessica Tan that we will be working very closely with SSG to match skills with job and employment. Employment and employability – the two will have to go hand in hand.

In terms of support for the industry and, in particular, for SMEs, as highlighted by Mr Thomas Chua and Mr Louis Ng, again, we share their views completely.

In the case of SMEs, we have stepped up our support for SMEs with the Lean Enterprise Development (LED) scheme. Mr Thomas Chua highlighted a very important point. As SMEs go through a process of restructuring, the kind of support they need is quite holistic – manpower, technology, funding support and, most importantly, ideas on how to transform their businesses.

Under the LED scheme, all the Government agencies have come together. We started the LED scheme in October last year and, since then, all the agencies, including SPRING, Infocomm Development Agency (IDA), WDA and NTUC e2i, are all working together. We are now providing a one-stop service to all SMEs.

I am also very happy to say that SMEs are also beginning to come together. For example, just last week or two weeks ago, we worked with about 10 Indian restaurants. Many of them have restaurants in Little India. During one meeting with them, they told me that many of the Indian restaurants in Little India may have to close down, and I said, "If that happens, that will be a national disaster". I asked them what is the problem and they told me that the problem was manpower. They are not able to attract enough locals to join the sector, for example, to become a local chef trained in Indian cuisine. At the same time, due to the manpower quota limitations, they are not able to hire enough foreign workers to meet their requirements.

After working together for about one year now, finally, we have achieved a breakthrough. Just two weeks ago, we opened up a new central kitchen for this group of Indian restaurants. What they did was – as mentioned by Mr Thomas Chua – individually, they are not able to invest in the technology, mechanisation and automation. Each piece of equipment costs from $20,000 to as high as $200,000, and there is no way each of these restaurants could make that kind of investment.

Under the LED scheme, we brought them together. These 10 restaurants jointly invest in this central kitchen and, as a result, they are now able to improve their productivity, and at the same time, minimise their manpower requirement. What is even more exciting is that at this central kitchen, we will also be training local chefs so that in time to come, the Singaporean Core in these Indian restaurants and sector will be strengthened as well.

We believe that if we are able to get more and more SMEs to come together, not individually, but collectively, we can speed up the process of not just mechanisation, but innovation breakthrough, as mentioned by Mr Thomas Chua as well as Mr Louis Ng.

Ms Jessica Tan and Er Dr Lee Bee Wah highlighted the impact of the future workplace on women. We fully agree. If you look at the labour force participation rate and the employment rate, these are high in Singapore by global standards. But compared to the rate for males, there is still room for further strengthening. In other words, there is still a lot of scope for us to work together to tap more on our women workforce, as highlighted by both hon Members.

The tripartite partners have been working very closely together to make our workplace family-friendly. In Singapore today, under flexi-work arrangements, we focus on three thrusts: first, flexi-place, including working from home; second, flexi-time, including starting work two hours earlier, ending work two hours earlier; and third, flexi-load so that a person can decide whether I want to have a 100% load, 50% or 75% and so on.

We are making very promising and very steady progress but obviously, there is a lot more that can be done. We will take up the suggestions by Ms Jessica Tan and Er Dr Lee Bee Wah to see how we can push this forward.

Mr Louis Ng asked what kind of additional support we can give to sectors and businesses where the human interaction cannot be mechanised. In other words, some sectors focus more on high-touch. With high-touch, does it mean that there is no scope for us to introduce technology? The answer is no. We believe that high-touch and high-tech both can go hand in hand. We have helped some businesses to be more high-tech and, as a result, we free up the manpower to focus on high-touch services.

One example is in the retail sector. Many of the workers spend a lot of their time doing stock-taking. Under the LED scheme, we help them to install radio-frequency identification (RFID) in all their sales items. As a result, they are now able to do their stock-taking within minutes, at the most, hours. You just use the RFID reader, do a scan in the shop, within minutes, the stocktaking is done. As a result, the workers are now being retrained to spend more time not on stocktaking, but serving customers, doing upselling and so on. So, I think the two can go hand in hand. We will do more of that.

On the foreign worker issue, Mr Desmond Choo asked whether we can implement a quota for EP holders, particularly in the high growth sectors like IT. Mdm Speaker, I want to emphasise time and time again that, in Singapore, we are tapping on foreign manpower, including EP holders to bridge the three gaps in Singapore.

Firstly, the number gap. In many sectors, we just do not have the number, whether it is engineers in the wafer fab or sales staff in the retail sector. We just do not have the numbers. So, we need the foreign manpower to complement the shortage and bridge the number gap. A second gap is the skills gap. In Singapore, our workforce is a good one but we cannot claim to have all the expertise that we need, especially in new growth sectors. And thirdly, is the timing gap. For example, with SkillsFuture, we can speed up the training and upgrading of manpower to meet our future needs. But it takes time. Therefore, we need foreign manpower to meet our numbers gap, the skills gap and the timing gap.

The extent of the gaps varies across sectors. Some sectors face greater challenges in skilsl gap, whereas some sectors may face more of a numbers gap issue. Every sector has different challenges. Also, as each individual sector goes through the process of development, at various stages of development, again, they have different challenges.

A new growth sector, for example, bioscience. In bioscience today, our manpower expertise gap is a lot greater compared to sectors which are more mature. And as a result, if we try to impose a quota on EPs across all the sectors, even for selective sectors, I think it will be very difficult for us to strike the right balance. If we impose it too tightly, it will stifle the growth of our economy. If we make it too loose, then, it will offer no protection for our local workers.

Therefore, what we have been doing, and I think it is the right thing to do, is to be smarter in the way we make use of the foreign manpower by maximising the complementarity between the foreign manpower and the local manpower. As I mentioned in Parliament in the Committee of Supply debate this year, we have already redefined our EP framework not just to look at the qualification of individual EP applicants, but also to look at the industry, to look at the company and, along the way, we provide closer scrutiny to what we call the "triple weak" companies. At the same time, we encourage more of them to become "triple strong" so that we will see not just a stronger Singaporean Core, but also the transfer of know-how to strengthen the complementarity between the foreign workforce and the local workforce. I want to assure Mr Desmond Choo that our determination to strengthen the Singaporean Core is a real one. We have already taken action and we will continue to push for that.

Mr Patrick Tay suggested that WSG conduct research into underemployment. I agree. I believe this is one area brought up by Ms Sylvia Lim during the COS as well. MOM is equally concerned about whether there is underlying growth in under-employment, not just time-based but also in terms of actual utilisation of the full potential of manpower. I will take the Member's suggestion into account when we formulate the WSG's research agenda.

Dr Intan Mokhtar suggested that we should provide retirees and stay-at-home parents with meaningful work such as caregiving in the community. Again, I agree. I support her idea, and I believe that the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) are already working on this, and WSG will certainly support the various Ministries.

Madam, I would like to conclude by touching on a point brought up by Mr Louis Ng which I think is a very important one – how can we ensure that more businesses will do a better job in managing their human resources. This is one of the key challenges we face moving forward. I have said it time and time again that our local workforce is ageing and growth is slowing down very rapidly – from growing at 4% a year in the first half of the decade this year to about 1% by 2020, which is just about four or five years from now.

As we go through this transition, human resource has to be viewed as our human capital. Human resource is not just a number, a person for you to use, but it is for us to invest in. The more we invest in human resource, the more valuable this human capital will be in our future economy. In that regard, I would say that this will be more than just a priority of WSG, but one of the top priorities of MOM, together with the tripartite partners as well. We have formulated the sectoral plan for human resource. We are now in the process of formalising it, launching it and getting it implemented.

In conclusion, Madam, we have to go through a fast pace of change. We are not the only one. I started by talking about G20. Let me end with G20. At the G20 Labour and Employment meeting, having expressed the concern with this slower economic growth, slower job growth, the conclusion amongst our G20 Labour Ministers is that we have to ensure that this innovation growth will be as fast as possible, as smart as possible. They use terms like rapid innovation, smart innovation, pervasive innovation. So, we are not the only country or economy that is trying to run fast. They, too, are trying to run fast with innovation, with technology. And yet, at the same time, they all recognise that this innovation-driven growth must also be an inclusive one. Otherwise, they will not be able to solve their problem with high youth unemployment and sticky unemployment.

We, in Singapore, I think this is an area we have done better than them for many years. And this is the reason why in Singapore our economic growth has been healthy. But more importantly, we have been able to create enough good and meaningful jobs for our people.

Moving forward, the same challenge remains. Yes, we must move fast to make every job a better job, move fast to make every worker a better worker but, most importantly, let us make sure that we progress in sync between these two to ensure that every better job will be able to find a better worker and every better worker will be able to find a better job. So, with that, we, hopefully, will be able to arrive at a state whereby every career in Singapore can be a better career for all Singaporeans. Madam, with that, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. – [Mr Lim Swee Say].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.