Productivity must rise in long term: PM

Singapore

WHILE Singapore wants to help its people earn more, wages cannot go up indefinitely and it is the country's productivity that must improve over the longer term.

Speaking at a dialogue on Tuesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong cited several ways of boosting productivity, among them educating the population well and providing good training for workers such that they continue to pick up skills that are relevant to their jobs.

"Also, it is the restructuring of the economy so that you keep on bringing in sunrise businesses and gradually phase out those that are not so successful and not so profitable," he told some 450 busi…