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~The NTUC Youth Taskforce has engaged more than 1,000 youths so far and has started engagements with universities, with upcoming engagements with polytechnics in October ~
NTUC Youth Taskforce engages students from IHLs to discuss the future of work
The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Youth Taskforce began its engagements with students from universities since its launch in July 2022. In partnership with Varsity Voices, a student body initiative, NTUC organised a closed-door dialogue session held at NTUC Centre yesterday to discuss concerns that youths face in their career planning and aspirations, financial adequacy, and mental well-being.
The theme of the dialogue is “From School to Work: Future-Readiness of Singaporean Youths”, which focused on how youths can be prepared for their transition from being students to working professionals. This is amidst the changing economic backdrop, driving forces such as sustainable development, digitalisation, and growing demands for caregiving and flexible work arrangements that are changing the world of work.
Students who attended the Varsity Voices Dialogue shared in a pre-event poll that the top three main concerns they face before entering the workforce were in planning for their career journey, financial adequacy, and mental well-being. Particularly in career planning and aspirations, participants had shared their concerns on how to ensure employability in the job market, what skills would be attractive to employers in the near future, and how to be better prepared before stepping into the workforce.
Guest-of-Honour, NTUC Secretary-General (SG) Ng Chee Meng was invited to address close to 70 students from various Institutes of Higher Learning, including universities, polytechnics, Institutes of Technical Education (ITEs), Private Education Institutions (PEIs), and secondary schools. SG Ng participated in the dialogue along with NTUC Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) Desmond Choo; student panellists – Mr Ng Chia Wee, a National
University of Singapore (NUS) final-year undergraduate in Philosophy, Politics and Economics; and Mr Clement Soh, a Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Yong Pung How School of Law third-year undergraduate in Law. The session was moderated by Varsity Voices Deputy Marketing Head Ms Kyla Kwan, a second-year Nanyang Technological University (NTU) undergraduate in Linguistics & Multilingual Studies.
ASG Desmond, who chairs the NTUC Youth Taskforce, said, “Since the launch of the NTUC Youth Taskforce, we have engaged more than 1,000 youths between 18 and 25 years old so far and are looking forward to meeting many more youths out there who will have differing views. As such, this partnership with Varsity Voices is really a step forward for us learn more about our youth and forge a compact with them through youth organisations. It is encouraging to see this meaningful discourse being carried out, and as NTUC wants to be the guiding buddy in their work-life journeys, such partnerships are an important pillar to build our future workforce and create a desired workplace.”
Varsity Voices is an inter-university network that holds regular dialogues that cover topics which matter most to youths. The network includes NUS Students’ Political Association, NTU Current Affairs Society and SMU Apolitical Group.
Addressing the need for more career-related programmes available to youths
Various concerns brought up by students during the dialogue in areas of career planning and aspirations, financial adequacy, and mental well-being, were aligned with the findings from studies conducted by NTUC and Young NTUC earlier this year. These studies were used as a basis to form the NTUC Youth Taskforce, which was launched on 23 July 2022.
The study conducted in April 2022 with 1,039 youths aged between 18 and 35 years old by NTUC in partnership with Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)’s Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities, identified various challenges that youths faced. Of these, the top three challenges were in areas of career opportunities and prospects (56 per cent), finances (54 per cent), and mental well-being (52 per cent).
In a separate study conducted by Young NTUC in February 2022 with 1,500 respondents between 18 and 35 years old, it was found that out of all the career- related programmes, youths find job and internship opportunities (29 per cent), skills workshops (25 per cent) and career mentoring (19 per cent) most useful.
Of these, 347 of the respondents were students, who shared that they found the following career-related programmes useful: job and internship opportunities (79 per cent), skills workshops (57 per cent) and career mentoring (55 per cent). However, it was also found that these students had lesser access to these career-related programmes such as job and internship opportunities (73 per cent), skills workshops (42 per cent) and career mentoring (42 per cent). This gap suggests the lack of available opportunities and exposure for students to participate in the necessary career-related programmes they find useful and there is a strong need for more relevant stakeholders and organisations to be the pillar of support for youths.
Next steps of the NTUC Youth Taskforce
As part of the NTUC Youth Taskforce’s engagement strategy, the Youth Hub, which is a roving exhibition launched at LIT DISCOvery 2022, went to the National University of Singapore from 30 to 31 August 2022. In the month of September this year, the Youth Hub will be moving to ITE College Central from
14 to 15 September and will be moving to the Singapore Institute of Management Global Education (SIMGE) from 29 to 30 September.
The Youth Hub consists of a series of interactive elements to provide youths with useful career advice and tips. These include learning about their employment rights, career profiling tests, and receiving career advice to boost them in their professional journeys. The interactive elements were curated and designed based on continual engagements that Young NTUC had over the years to understand youths’ needs and concerns. Youths are also able to make virtual appointments with a list of career mentors from across 23 industries to get views and advice on career and job matters.
NTUC Youth Taskforce will also be organising several focus group discussions with students from ITE College Central, ITE College East, Singapore University of Social Sciences, and members of the public in the month of September. The NTUC Youth Taskforce will begin its engagements with students from polytechnics in the coming months (Please see Annex A for upcoming engagements in September).
The NTUC Youth Taskforce was officially launched on 23 July 2022 by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong. Youths can visit
www.youthtaskforce.sg to find out more on how they can participate. NTUC announced its plans to partner IHLs and/or their relevant student bodies where focus group discussions and closed-door dialogue sessions will be conducted. Through the NTUC Youth Taskforce, students can share their aspirations, goals,
anxieties, and fears so that NTUC can hear our youths’ voices and better support them as they transition from being students to working adults.
As part of NTUC’s efforts to refresh a long-standing compact with workers forged more than 60 years ago, the NTUC Youth Taskforce falls within #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations, a larger-scale series of engagements launched in August, aimed at engaging all workers across various life stages and types, especially our future workforce.
