National Jobs Council to tap tripartite partners: Tharman

Singapore

SINGAPORE cannot wait for the employment market to recover on its own and avoid the risk of treating rising unemployment as a new normal, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam said.

"The longer that those mid-career are left out of work, the more their skills fade, and the less likely it is that they get a good job again. And when younger people graduate from their education and find themselves waiting for years to get a serious job - like in many European countries - their hopes and ambitions fall apart," Mr Tharman wrote in a Facebook post.

"No amount of unemployment benefits can compensate for not having a job, and for the social stagnation and loss of optimism about the future that comes when a large segment of the population feels redundant and out of sorts. We must never get there."

His comments follow a first meeting by the National Jobs Council, which has been tasked to implement the S$2 billion SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package announced at the Fortitude Budget.

Chaired by Mr Tharman and with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat as advisor, the council on Wednesday outlined its priority areas in creating over 95,000 job and training opportunities for Singaporeans.

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

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 align its work with that of the Future Economy Council and the Emerging Stronger Taskforce.

Besides Mr Tharman, the other 16 council members are a mix of political office holders and business and union leaders: Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance and Education Indranee Rajah, Minister for Communications and Information S Iswaran, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo, NTUC president Mary Liew, NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng, Singapore Computer Society president Chong Yoke Sin, Singapore Manufacturing Federation president Douglas Foo, Singapore Hotel Association first vice-president Arthur Kiong, Singapore Business Federation council member Lim Ming Yan, Singapore Accountancy Commission chairman Chaly Mah, Temasek International chief executive Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, Association of Banks Singapore chairman Samuel Tsien and Singapore National Employers Federation president Robert Yap.

Mr Tharman said special attention will be paid to middle-aged and mature Singaporean workers, and "no longer can employers think that someone is "too old to hire" or are "overqualified". He called on employers to be part of the national team in overcoming the jobs challenge, adding that the government is providing very strong support for them.