By Ramesh Subbaraman
In a joint statement on 12 January 2016, the Ministries of Education and Manpower announced the formation of the new SkillsFuture Singapore statutory board under the Ministry of Education (MOE). to drive and coordinate the implementation of SkillsFuture among other things.
At the same time, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency will be reconstituted into a new statutory board - Workforce Singapore (WSG) to focus on jobs and ensuring enterprises can become manpower-lean while remaining competitive.The new statutory board will remain under the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Labour Movement’s Reaction
NTUC’s Director (Progressive Wage Model), Industrial Relations Department Desmond Choo said the Labour Movement welcomes the Government’s commitment to workers' long term skills training and ensuring quality jobs.
“Having two statutory boards can sharpen the focus and drive better use of resources in these twin areas. We must, however, ensure that the work is seamless and synergistic. The Labour Movement will work closely with the two statutory boards to coordinate our efforts to helping our workers," he said.
The SkillsFuture movement will continue to be a multi-agency effort within Government and involve all the tripartite partners.
Source: NTUC This Week
