A new National Skills Index to help sharpen focus on skills development

AS the business landscape transforms - driven by digitalisation and technological shifts - skills that were once highly relevant and well regarded may soon be obsolete. This risk has not gone unnoticed by employees and employers. The 2021 EY Work Reimagined Employee Survey found that employees ranked online or virtual learning as their top learning and development focus. Concurrently, almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of employers are looking to strengthen virtual learning.

Perhaps the pandemic has heightened concerns around long-term job security and to mitigate unemployment risks, individuals value the opportunity to continually upskill and reskill - and employers, too, see the need to address such learning demands.

To be clear, the focus on skills is not new. Workforce upskilling and reskilling has been a national imperative long before the pandemic. Back in 2008, the Continuing Education and Training (CET) Masterplan was launched to prepare Singaporean workers for the future and develop a source of competitive advantage for Singapore. It was refreshed in 2014 to better ensure a competitive and career resilient workforce.