Singapore’s slowing economy is not in a ‘crisis’: PM Lee
Photo: Time
While Singapore’s economic growth has slowed, it is not in a crisis requiring the ‘antibiotics’ that were administered during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday (1 November).
Instead, current schemes such as the NTUC Education and Training Fund and SkillsFuture are helping to keep things on an even keel, even as the government restructures the economy to deal with new and existing challenges.
“(These schemes) are not a magic pill (but) something that will work over time,” said PM Lee. “This (slowdown) is not the kind of infection that…will have a quick cure.”
Speaking before a closed-door dialogue session with more than 200 labour movement leaders, Lee elaborated on the government’s strategies to ride out the slowdown. He reassured his audience that there are still bright spots in the economy.
He noted that while there have been increasing redundancies, fewer workers were laid off in the third quarter than in the preceding quarter – 4,100 workers compared to 4,800 workers.
Because PMETs have been more affected than before by retrenchments, the authorities are doing more to help them cope, through schemes such as the Professional Conversion Programme and Career Support Programme.
Government agencies like Workforce Singapore (WSG) are also helping to train workers who are switching careers. This year, WSG has already placed 13,000 workers in new jobs.
Growth remains positive, and is expected to be at the lower end of one to two per cent this year. The government has also been working hard to attract new investments into Singapore, such as from GlaxoSmithKline and Pratt & Whitney.
Lee urged the labour movement to rally workers and partner with the government.
Future Jobs Skills and Training
NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Patrick Tay (right). Photo: Nicholas Yong
Separately, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Patrick Tay announced a new initiative that aims to help the unemployed find jobs.
A recent World Economic Forum report projected that by 2020, 5 million jobs worldwide will be lost, and 2.1 million jobs in more specialised areas will be created worldwide.
Future Jobs Skills and Training (FJST) aims to draw on the labour movement’s extensive networks - from ministries, statutory boards, unions to institutes of higher learning.
The initiative will garner intelligence on job vacancies via pilot projects in specific sectors such as financial services, healthcare and education, and disseminate the information through NTUC’s networks.
Kicking off in 2017, FJST will be headed by Tay and have an initial work group of 15 staff.
