Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise in support of Budget 2024. It is a well-considered budget that aims to strengthen our nation’s resilience to withstand the challenges of an uncertain global economy.
We are entering an era of work that is marked by precarity, where job security is no longer a guarantee. In 2023, retrenchments in Singapore more than doubled to 14,000, and the myriad of challenges, uncertainties and volatility persists. The climate crisis and new technologies like generative artificial intelligence will bring about disruption and transformation to our economy including the labour market in both speed and scale.
Jobs and skills obsolescence will persist and therefore workers of all collars and ages are now more vulnerable and understandably anxious about the way ahead. Earlier this month, NTUC's annual Survey on Economic Sentiments echoed this same worry and anxiety on the ground where more workers are concerned about losing their jobs compared to the preceding year.
At the same time, there are on-going challenges of inflation and the rising costs of living. From groceries to electricity and water bills, Singaporeans who find themselves out of a job are facing increased financial strain in meeting their basic needs.
During this exceptional and critical time, it is therefore imperative for the government to re-evaluate our approach to unemployment and job loss. We must assure workers who find themselves involuntarily displaced or transitioning into more resilient careers that they will not be left behind without support. We must also equip our workers with the resources and skills necessary to strengthen their employability. Only by investing in our collective resilience and prosperity can Singapore prevent the adverse repercussions of economic restructuring, and emerge stronger together.
To this end, I will focus on what I will call as the two “S” areas of Support and Strengthening for our workers: Support for the Unemployed and Strengthening SkillsFuture and Continuous Education & Training.
Support for the Unemployed
The first ‘S’ of Support for the unemployed is a call I first made more than 10 years ago in Parliament in 2014. I checked out Hansard and the late Dr Goh Keng Swee in March 1970 also spoke and analysed the Unemployment Insurance and consulted the International Labour Organisation before the Government made its stance and stated this approach. I am heartened that after a decade of lobbying, more MPs have joined me in this call including our opposition MPs, and that it has been adopted by the government through Forward Singapore last October and announced by DPM Lawrence in his Budget Speech this year.
Temporary financial support for the unemployed has increasingly emerged as a key recommendation from the Labour Movement’s engagements with workers and union leaders in the past few years. It started as a key recommendation from the NTUC-SNEF PME Taskforce which I co-chaired with SNEF in 2021 amidst Covid, where we consulted over 10,000 members of the public, union leaders, and business leaders. It was reiterated again in our NTUC’s renewed Workers’ Compact last year, following a year-long engagement with over 42,000 workers, through our #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations.
PMEs – or Professionals, Managers, and Executives – represent a segment of our workforce that are particularly precarious when they become unemployed because they typically have more dependents to take care of but take a longer time to find a new job due to their age and expected income. Upon re-entry to employment, there is also an increasing propensity for them to suffer from wage loss.
Yet unemployed PMEs are generally less likely to receive support from the government in view of their earlier higher income. As a result, they may feel compelled to rush into the first job offer they find rather than taking the time to upskill or search for a job that better fits their skills, experience, and aspirations. These workers may then find themselves entrenched in ill-fitting jobs in the long term.
According to a recent joint research study by NTUC and SUTD, this gap may have already materialised in our labour market. The study found that 1 in 4 workers experience under-employment arising from skills-jobs mismatch, or in other words, are over-skilled/over-qualified for their current jobs. I think the greatest concern is with involuntary under-employment. I will share the findings from the report in due course on a separate platform including on my socials.
After a decade of tireless lobbying, I am therefore elated to see our efforts recognised in the Budget 2024 with the announcement of a new temporary financial support scheme by the government for involuntarily displaced jobseekers while they undergo training or look for better-fitting jobs. As the parameters of this scheme are being deliberated, I urge the government to extend coverage to as many workers as possible including the broad middle of affected workers, and not just those in the lower income bracket. Allow me to elaborate.
Two major disruption cycles to our local workforce are already in place – the phasing out of fossil fuels to transition towards renewable energy and the rise of Gen AI. This means that previously secure jobs in fossil fuel energy production could face redundancy as a necessary and inevitable focus on renewable energy demands different skills. AI is also expected to disproportionately impact PMETs, who make up slightly more than 60% of the workforce today, due to the computer-based content-generation work inherent to PMETs. Already, industry giants such as Shell and Grab have announced hundreds of job cuts from their Singapore offices, citing these two disruption cycles as reasons for restructuring.
As we continue to expect continued restructuring, re-organisation, and re-prioritisation in 2024, we must all stand prepared for any curve balls by ensuring that workers affected have the support and resources they need to adapt to and thrive in a new economic landscape. Although these industry changes may render some jobs and skills obsolete, they also have the potential to create more sustainable and meaningful jobs with better wages and generate new in-demand skills. If we are to ride this wave of change, we will need to re-skill workers and help them navigate career transitions.
Temporary financial support will therefore serve as a lifeline for displaced workers by providing them with ample space and time to upgrade their skillsets and secure better jobs. To ensure the successful implementation of this scheme, I would like to propose five areas of consideration, which I call the 5 ‘A’s.
First, Applicability. Temporary financial support for the unemployed should cover the broad middle of affected workers rather than only those whose incomes fall below the national median wage or lower wage workers, to ensure that all who need support will receive it. I also implore the government to consider extending support to those retrenched as well as those involuntarily unemployed for genuine reasons. By the same token, sector-specific support for workers in industries that may experience cyclical downturn will be a great augmentation so that companies can cut costs to save jobs and not cut jobs to save costs. This will also nudge and encourage at-risk workers to proactively fortify their careers by upskilling or reskilling to transit to more sustainable careers.
Second, Amount. Financial support should entail a sufficient amount that can tide affected workers over, based on a reasonable societal standard of a worker and his families’ basic needs.
Third, Ample time. The duration of financial support should suffice such as to allow for effective re-skilling and job-matching while ensuring that the unemployed can get back to work as soon as possible and not become under-employed involuntarily.
Fourth, Active labour market policy. Financial support, if any, should be reciprocated by workers doing their part to actively search for jobs and diligently attending training to ensure the affordability and sustainability of this scheme.
Fifth and finally, Accessibility. Access to financial support should be simple, seamless, and prompt and. More importantly, the scheme must not just be about providing financial help but must encompass active career guidance, coaching and employment facilitation support to help those involuntarily unemployed workers identify suitable career pathways and access funded training under the SkillsFuture ecosystem.
This leads me to the second ‘S’, Strengthening SkillsFuture and Continuing Education and Training, also known as CET.
Strengthening SkillsFuture and CET
As DPM Lawrence Wong mentioned in his Budget statement, the government and NTUC has consistently championed SkillsFuture and CET as pathways to good jobs and better wages. I would like to call for the government to continue working closely with NTUC and the Labour Movement to strengthen the SkillsFuture and CET ecosystem and better support workers’ upskilling, employment, employability, and career progression.
I recognise that the government has invested heavily in providing training opportunities and generous subsidies, particularly through the newly announced targeted $4000 SkillsFuture credit top-up which will be a great boon for our mature workers, enhanced subsidies for selected programmes, and training allowance for mid-careerists aged 40 and above from May this year. I look forward to hearing the fuller details at the MOE COS. However, I wish to submit three points in this respect:
First, I applaud the SkillsFuture credit top-ups and acknowledge that those below 40 years will eventually get a bite of this cherry when they reach 40. However, I submit that we should extend the access of this $4000 to other vulnerable groups of Singaporeans besides mid-careerists, such as the retrenched, unemployed and freelancers in need of individual initiated training and who may fall outside the scope of this top-up. I also look forward to more details on the types and category of courses which this $4000 can be used for and for the government to not just consider those programmes that lead to certifiable courses but those that lead to employment and employability outcomes whether directly or indirectly. This will include coaching and mentoring training to maximise one’s potential and enhance career progression and employability.
Second, Career Conversion Programmes, also known as CCP, should be widened to cover even more sectors and industries as the current offerings may not be extensive enough to fully realise the potential and capabilities of those keen to embark on a career change voluntarily or involuntarily.
Third, in my work with the unions and the labour movement, I have gathered feedback that the current CCP model may not be viable for many PMEs due to the relatively lower monthly training allowance during their period of training for some of the CCP courses. I think a good and useful proxy would be the IBF’s Technology in Finance Immersion Programme (TFIP) which offers a monthly training allowance of up to $5,500. With the latest announcement of a training allowance of up to $3000 for those undertaking selected certification and qualifications on their own, I opine that the training allowance of our CCP programmes should be increased to keep pace with rising median wages, household expenditures, inflation and rising costs of living.
Conclusion
To conclude, while the challenges ahead appear daunting, let us remember that to pave the way for progress, we must first face adversity head-on. And the only way we can emerge stronger is together. Successfully transitioning our workforce through the rapid structural changes in our economy and seeking out new opportunities will require tripartite collaboration to help workers bounce back from setbacks and bridge the skills divide and gap. This can be achieved through duo efforts of Supporting the unemployed and Strengthening SkillsFuture and CET.
NTUC believes that Every Worker Matters. We care and we will continue to take action to support all workers, so that no one is left behind as we strive towards better wages, welfare, and work prospects.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I support the budget. Thank you.
