Strategies to Safeguard Job Stability for Singaporeans in Light of Trade Tensions and Structural Shifts in Labour Market

41 Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for Manpower what strategies are being put in place to safeguard job stability for Singaporeans in light of rising trade tensions and structural shifts in the labour market.

Dr Tan See Leng: Mr Saktiandi Supaat and Dr Wan Rizal filed Parliamentary Questions regarding anxiety about job security and measures to safeguard job stability and strengthen support for workers.

Some Singaporeans feel anxious over job security due to an increased sense of uncertainty over the future, exacerbated by recent global events and accelerating technological advancements.

In a dynamic economy, there will be continual creation and destruction of jobs. Our approach is to safeguard workers by helping them to move on to new jobs over time rather than to save jobs. Saving jobs that are no longer productive may hinder the growth of new and better jobs for Singaporeans in the longer term. Our approach to safeguard workers has three thrusts.

First, create good jobs by facilitating the flow of investments into Singapore. We provide support for businesses to upgrade and transform their workforce in response to structural shifts in the economy. For example, we set aside over $600 million at this year’s Budget for the Enterprise Workforce Transformation Package and the National Trades Union Congress' (NTUC's) Company Training Committee Grant to provide greater support for businesses in workforce transformation.

Second, we equip workers with the right skillsets to help them remain employable, spending over $10 billion over the last five years on local workforce initiatives. Workforce Singapore and SkillsFuture Singapore have a wide range of upskilling and reskilling programmes, such as the Career Conversion Programmes, the SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme and the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme, to better support mid-career workers in upskilling and reskilling.

Third, we have strengthened support for workers and businesses to navigate a more complex and diverse labour market. The Ministry of Manpower launched the Career Health SG initiative to better optimise our workforce for future jobs. We have also set up the Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment to study how to extend the productive longevity of our ageing workforce. An Alliance for Action on Advancing Career and Employment Services was recently convened to work with the private sector on solutions to redefine jobs, strengthen employability and improve job matching. In addition, the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme launched earlier this year provides financial support for the involuntarily displaced so that they can bounce back stronger from employment setbacks.

The Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce will monitor the impact of global trade developments on local job creation and stand ready to roll out additional measures to bolster, if necessary. At the same time, we have embarked on the Economic Strategy Review to chart a forward-looking economic blueprint to secure good opportunities for our businesses and workers.