Brother Noriyuki Suzuki, General Secretary, ICFTU-APRO
Brother John De Payva, President, NTUC
NTUC Central Committee Members
Comrades and friends,
On behalf of the Singapore National Trades Union Congress, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to our brothers and sisters from the Asia and Pacific region.
SNTUC is pleased to be jointly organizing this regional youth seminar, in cooperation with the ICFTU-APRO. It is timely to provide this opportunity for young leaders from our region to interact, exchange experiences and gain deeper insight into the challenges facing workers, and how unions can be effective advocates and agents of change in overcoming these challenges.
Youth employment and participation of young workers in the trade union movement were re-affirmed as priority issues in the Global Unions’ agenda for action, in the recent deliberations of ICFTU World Congress held in Miyazaki in Dec last year, and ICFTU-APRO Regional Conference in Nepal in Feb 05. I believe members of the ICFTU-APRO Youth Committee and other young leaders who are participating in this seminar had attended these important meetings where the future direction of the international trade union movement was deliberated.
Worldwide workers and trade unions continue to grapple with the impact of globalisation. The most fundamental challenge is providing basic employment and income security for all, and the future role and relevance of trade unions in effectively addressing this challenge.
Youth Employment
In today’s world, one out of every 6 persons is between the age of 15 and 24 – this translates to a figure of 1 billion young people. About 85% of these young people live in developing countries, with about 60% in Asia. This sounds very encouraging as countries can then progress by tapping on their youthful energy, enthusiasm, vibrancy and dynamism to make the world a better place to live in.
Unfortunately, the situation is not so promising and rosy when we look at the statistics of the youth unemployment rate. World youth unemployment has increased from 11.7 per cent in 1993 to 14.4 per cent in 2003. This translates to 88 million unemployed youth, accounting for 47 per cent of the 186 million unemployed globally.
When we look at our region, in some countries, youth unemployment has been as high as 30%! The findings of a survey on the situation of young workers in this region, conducted by ICFTU-APRO in 2002, highlights several important issues that must be addressed,
i. Youth unemployment is higher than overall unemployment in all 18 countries surveyed. Its average rate is twice as high as that of adults
ii. Mismatch between education/training and job requirements
iii. The type of jobs for young workers is shifting to casual atypical, temporary ones which lack job security, pay lower wage, and have no or little social safety nets
iv. Organisation rate and participation in trade unions of young workers are low
v. HIV/AIDS is one of the main problems of young workers, especially in developing countries
Undoubtedly, the adverse impact and socio-economic costs of joblessness and underemployment among young people is of great concern to all of us. Hence, boosting youth employment and integrating the youth should be of top priority for governments and unions. This seminar will provide an opportunity for young union leaders in our region to exchange experiences and ideas on what can be done to tackle these challenges. I understand you will be considering findings from a more recent survey done last year.
At this juncture, do allow me to share on the youth employment situation in Singapore.
Youth Employment Situation in Singapore
In Singapore, young people are staying longer in the education system. At the same time, young males above the age of 18 are performing compulsory national service. So, there has been a decline in the labour force participation rate of young people between the ages of 15 to 24. The labour force participation rate declined from 23.3% in 1994 to 13.7% in 2004 for those aged 15-19, and from 79.0% to 71.0% for those aged 20-24.
With their better skills, qualifications and education, generally, the young do not face a serious unemployment problem in Singapore. Unemployment among young people rose from 5.7% in June 1994 to 8.3% in June 2004. However, the pace of increase was slower when compared to the overall average unemployment figure, which rose from 2.6% to 5.3% over the same period. The higher unemployment rate for youth is due to their greater job search activity, as many are entering the job market for the first time. Many also tend to look for a change of job in the first few years after joining the workforce.
On average, younger workers who were unemployed take a shorter time finding a new job compared to older workers. As at June 2004, those between the age of 20-29 takes about 6.0 weeks to find another job compared to 12.0 weeks for those between 30-39 years; 16.0 weeks for those between 40-49 years of age and 19.0 weeks for those between 50-59 years of age.
The better employment prospects of Singapore youth is due to our strong emphasis on education. Almost all of the younger generation complete about ten to eleven years of basic education, equipping them with the necessary skills for work.
Of course, having the education and skills is not sufficient. There has to be job creation. Thus, one of the top priorities of the Government is encouraging and securing investments to create new jobs. As such, we have to create an environment that is attractive to investors. This includes developing a harmonious industrial relations climate.
After creating jobs, we have to address the aspiration of workers for an improving life. This means they should get better wages. But better wages only come from higher productivity. One of the key factors for higher productivity is higher skills. Therefore, studying/training does not stop after one leaves the formal school system. SNTUC has been putting in tremendous efforts in advocating the importance of lifelong learning to stay employable. We have been focusing on enhancing employability through Skills Training/Upgrading, Employment Assistance Programme and Job Re-design.
Union’s Roles in Promoting Learning and Employability
SDF
In 1972, the government established the Skills Development Fund (SDF). It is like a payroll tax on employers who engage low-skilled workers. Employers can then use this fund to finance the training programmes of their employees. However, as not all employers provide training for their employees, SNTUC was made a ‘surrogate employer’ so as to draw fund from the SDF to sponsor training programmes of workers. This surrogate employer scheme is open to all workers and many younger workers have used it to retrain and upgrade their skills.
SRP
As the pace of change is faster nowadays, workers’ skills can become obsolete quite quickly. We take a forward looking approach. We try to identify the workers at risk, and provide training for them so that they will be relevant to the jobs of the future. So the SNTUC initiated the Skills Redevelopment Programme (SRP) with funding from SDF and the government. Under this programme, SNTUC takes responsibility for the administration of the training fund and selection of suitable training providers. We work with employers in this programme.
SkillsSave Account
It is inadequate if it is only the employer that initiates training. Most employers would only train workers in skills relevant to their current needs. So it is necessary for the worker to take responsibility for his own skills upgrading. How do we bring about such a change in attitude to training? One way is to set up individual training accounts for workers. The worker then decides on how to spend the money on training. Recently, we launched a pilot scheme in three co-operatives. Under this scheme, employees of our NTUC cooperatives can sign up for a SkillsSave account with NTUC Thrift, a savings co-operative. This individual learning account builds up from contributions of the employees and their employers. Conceptually, if this turns out to be successful, we could even ask for top-ups from government. Workers can then use the money for training of their choice.
Employment Assistance
To assist our workers who are looking for jobs, SNTUC has set up the JobLink Centre in February 2001 as a one-stop job placement centre with full-time staffing. The service is free to all workers who are looking for jobs. On 1 April 2004, NTUC JobLink partnered with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), to set up a joint centre, CareerLink@ntuc&wda.
Youth Participation in the Labour Movement
The future of trade unions as effective advocates and agents of change on behalf of workers lies in the hands of the younger generation of union leaders.
Union Membership
The future will be undermined if far too few young people join unions, and too few step forward to serve as union leaders.
In Singapore, young workers constitute 32.9% of SNTUC’s total union membership. In terms of leadership, young leaders below the age of 35 only represent 7% and 18% at the executive committee and branch levels respectively.
Young people have cited various reasons why they do not wish to join unions. One common reason is that they want to focus on building up their careers. For some, they hardly know about unions when they enter the labour market. Many of them are also not clear as to how they benefit from joining a union. Of course, there are also some who still perceive unions as traditional and bureaucratic, out of touch with modern trends, and so they do not want to associate themselves with such culture.
To attract and recruit young people to join the labour movement, unions have to stay relevant and be able to fulfill the needs and aspirations of young people.
SNTUC is forming the “Young NTUC” to give the youth in the labour movement the space to organise activities for themselves. It will be a movement by the youth, of the youth and for the youth.
Union Leadership
To develop the leadership and enhance the effectiveness of young unionists, it is important that there are avenues for training for them.
In SNTUC, young union leaders undergo a structured leadership training programme. These programmes are conducted by the Ong Teng Cheong Institute of Labour Studies, the training arm of SNTUC. These programmes focus on industrial relations and are taught by experienced industrial relations practitioners as well as academics.
Besides the structured training programme on industrial relations, young union leaders also develop leadership skills and solidarity by organizing adventure camps and undertaking projects.
Conclusion
The young is our future and we have to invest in them to have a prosperous future. Deliberate efforts have to be put in to address the increasing worldwide young unemployment rate. Government, employers, unions and individuals have to play a more active role in upgrading the skills of workers, job creation and enhancing employability. To attract and engage the youth in the labour movement, unions may have to change their culture and project a youthful, energetic and vibrant image, organising activities that are of interest to the youth.
I have shared with you some of the issues and efforts of unions in Singapore concerning youth in employment and the labour movement. We have much to learn from one another. I encourage all participants to engage active discussions in the workshop sessions over the next few days.
With this, I wish all of you a fruitful Seminar!
