With ‘tough year’ ahead, NTUC calls for support for displaced workers, caregivers in Budget 2024

THE National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) hopes for more support for displaced workers and caregivers in Budget 2024, even as the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) called on the government to share the costs and risks.

“It’s going to be a tough year for our workers,” said NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng. “We are already starting to see signs, particularly with retrenchment figures doubling up and wage growth stagnating or even declining.”

Facing significant headwinds, both workers and businesses are anxious about the economic outlook for 2024, said Ng and SNEF president Robert Yap at a media session on Tuesday (Feb 6).

In particular, job insecurity has intensified among workers. In an NTUC survey conducted between December and January, almost 40 per cent of respondents felt likely they would lose their jobs or not have their contracts renewed in the next three months.

This was nearly twice the share of respondents who felt this way in the previous year’s survey, where just a quarter felt likely to lose their jobs, said NTUC. The survey polled close to 2,000 workers across different age groups.

Ng expects more retrenchments this year than in 2023, due to planned restructuring exercises by businesses.

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But Dr Yap said that this is not necessarily a bad thing. “Some of the retrenchment could be positive retrenchment, because you need to actually shake up the industries to ensure that they are on the more productive part of the equation.”

Nevertheless, acknowledging workers’ anxieties, SNEF encourages employers to consult the tripartite partners proactively to see how these concerns can be mitigated in retrenchment exercises, he added.

For Budget 2024, Ng renewed NTUC’s calls for greater support for displaced workers. The government has indicated that details of a long-discussed re-employment support scheme will be in the Budget.

Secondly, the labour movement hopes to partner the government in getting more employers to adopt flexible work arrangements, to encourage more caregivers to return to the job market.

In particular, NTUC is calling on more companies to introduce statutory paid caregiving leave – a recommendation it first made last September after concluding a year-long engagement exercise with workers.

“NTUC will continue to ask for caregivers’ leave, especially for companies that are doing well and organisations that are able to do so, to afford a space for caregivers to have the ability to make a living... while also (juggling) their family responsibilities,” said Ng.

About 20 per cent of businesses have introduced caregiving leave “in one form or another” on a voluntary basis, “which is quite encouraging”, said Ng. Still, the union hopes to do more to increase this number.

Lastly, on retraining, Ng said the government could consider top-ups to the SkillsFuture Credit to better support workers to upskill. The government had previously hinted at a “substantial” SkillsFuture Credit top-up to help mature mid-career workers reskill.

Meanwhile, SNEF hopes that the government can share more of the costs and risks with employers, said Dr Yap. This is both in supporting the adoption of more flexible work arrangements as well as for transformation efforts.

Article is updated to reflect source clarification