The NTUC Job Security Council (JSC), with support from its Labour Movement partners, has successfully placed over 32,000 workers in jobs since it was formed in February 2020.
The figure was revealed by NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng in his National Day 2021 message on 5 August 2021.
The JSC network currently comprises more than 10,000 companies, which is a significant increase from the 4,000 when the council started, he added.
The JSC provides transition support to at-risk or displaced workers with career coaching, skills evaluation, access to training, job-search assistance and job-matching services.
NTUC will also continue to support and protect vulnerable workers as the nation continues to recover from the pandemic, said Mr Ng.
He highlighted NTUC’s efforts to uplift lower-wage workers and to better represent freelancers and PMEs.
On lower-wage workers, Mr Ng said that NTUC will continue to push hard to expand the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) more rapidly so that more workers can have access to better wages, welfare and work prospects.
Mr Ng also said that NTUC will continue lobbying for freelancers
“We want to be able to formally represent you, to afford you better protection,” he said.
Recognising the need for fairer bargaining relationship between freelancers and the service buyers, Mr Ng said that the freelance associations will continue to work to collectively champion their needs, support freelancers’ income security, skills mastery, work prospects and health
NTUC also intends to better support PMEs at their workplace and careers.
“We thank the more than 9,000 PMEs who have given valuable feedback to the NTUC-SNEF PME Taskforce, which is firming up its recommendations for sharing later this year,” he said.
Mr Ng also shared that the Government has heeded the Labour Movement’s call to better safeguard the Singaporean core and have recently announced the formation of the Tripartite Committee on Workplace Fairness. This committee will complement the efforts of the NTUC-SNEF PME Taskforce.
Mr Ng said that the recent turn of events in the fight against COVID-19 have understandably dampened moods and hopes for a quicker recovery, but the fight against the virus is making good progress and that workers still have much to celebrate.
Mr Ng added that the economy is expected to grow by 4 to 6 per cent this year, and that resident unemployment and retrenchment rates have fallen significantly compared to the peaks of last year.
“Our workers, including PMEs, can keep their jobs, and if impacted, are better able to find and keep good jobs,” he said.
The labour chief attributed the positive labour market figures to the tripartite partners’ close and continued collaboration over the past year.
With the national vaccination drive progressing well, Mr Ng said that NTUC will continue to support vaccination at the workplace to best protect workers’ health and ensure business continuity.
He concluded his message saying that National Day is a time to celebrate Singapore and Singaporeans, adding that Singaporeans have shown unity, resilience and adaptability in weathering the pandemic.
He said: “Let us also look ahead with renewed hope this National Day and forge a better future together. Happy National Day!”
