National Jobs Council to tap into tripartite partners' networks to create job opportunities

THE National Jobs Council has, at its first meeting with its founding members, outlined its priority areas in its quest to create nearly 100,000 job and training opportunities for Singaporeans.

The meeting was chaired by Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat is the council's advisor. 

The 16 members of the council, which comprises a mix of political office holders and business and union leaders, are:

- Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Trade and Industry

- Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources

- Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Education

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- Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance and Education

- S Iswaran, Minister for Communications and Information

- Josephine Teo, Minister for Manpower

- Mary Liew, president of National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)

- Ng Chee Meng, Secretary-General of NTUC

- Chong Yoke Sin, President of Singapore Computer Society (SCS)

- Douglas Foo, President of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation

- Arthur Kiong, first Vice-President of Singapore Hotel Association

- Lim Ming Yan, Council Member of Singapore Business Federation

- Chaly Mah, Chairman of Singapore Accountancy Commission

- Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, chief executive of Temasek International

- Samuel N. Tsien, chairman of The Association of Banks Singapore

- Robert Yap, President of Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF)

In a statement, the council identified three priority areas in the implementation of the S$2 billion SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package announced at the Fortitude Budget, the government's fourth economic rescue package to support Singaporeans through the Covid-19 pandemic.

First, it will identify and develop job opportunities for Singaporeans amid the pandemic and in its aftermath.

Secondly, it will rally and mobilise tripartite partners and training providers to establish a sizeable bank of SGUnited Jobs and skills opportunities. These will cater to various sectors and every skill level, it said.

Finally, it wants to enable Singaporeans to take full advantage of these opportunities through job creation and matching, attachments and retraining for reskilling and job redesign through business transformation.

The council added that it will also align its work with that of the Future Economy Council and the Emerging Stronger Taskforce.

"It is a challenging task but achievable with tight coordination and the tripartite partners going beyond established ways," Mr Tharman said in the statement.

"We will use every way possible to create these opportunities, in both the public and private sectors, and pay special attention to our middle-aged and older workers."

SNEF's Mr Yap said its members are looking at how they can provide opportunities for existing and incoming employees to upskill themselves for the long term.