By Fawwaz Baktee
About 18 per cent of Stockholm’s workers are employed in the tech sector and according to media reports, the digital boom has helped Sweden’s capital city achieve a growth of about 5 per cent annually. This is about two-and-a-half times higher than any other European city’s average.
According to NTUC Progressive Wage Model and SkillsFuture Director Desmond Choo in an exclusive interview with NTUC This Week, Stockholm’s example shows Singapore’s potential, if it is able to ride on the growth of the information and technology (ICT) sector.
Mr Choo said: “From a national point of view, the growth can give our economy the transformation and the boost it needs. If done properly, not only can the ICT sector make Singapore’s economy vibrant but it will have a knock-on effect on the industries it supports.”
Singapore’s ICT industry revenue saw a compound annual growth rate of 15.7 per cent from 2009 to 2014. In the same year, the sector also employed more than 150,000 ICT professionals.
Labour Movement’s Role
Mr Choo added that the Labour Movement will do its part to further encourage the growth of the sector.
“The Labour Movement will identify the value-add of the jobs within the sector. We will also work with academic institutions to mobilise workers and companies to participate in the available programmes,” he said.
He added that a robust tripartite guideline for the sector is needed to ensure an industry standard to protect the interests of ICT and media professionals who are either entering or are already in the market.
“This is where NTUC’s Infocomm and Media cluster will play a very big role. We will garner the strength of our unions in the cluster to come together with our tripartite partners to develop these guidelines.
“This is important because workers enter an industry for two reasons. First, because there is growth in the industry and second, because the industrial environment is safe,” said Mr Choo.
Training and Upgrading
To come into the sector, workers must be mentally prepared and manage their expectations.
“Our workers who want to come into the industry must know that they need deep-skilling. Workers can’t expect to take a three-month course and expect to become an ICT professional. Certainly Government support is needed to help workers transit, but they must be prepared to take courses that are as long as from six months to a year. They also need to expect to take on a lower pay when coming in fresh into the industry,” he said.
Mr Choo added that workers who succeed in doing so will be able to progress further and command a steeper pay increase in the long-run.
Source: NTUC This Week
