SNEF proposes Budget 2024 to boost current support schemes, introduce corporate grants for AI adoption
Mia Pei
SINGAPORE’S Budget 2024 should provide specific grants to drive corporate adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), helping businesses boost productivity, said the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) on Thursday (Dec 14).
In the Budget 2024 proposal SNEF submitted to the government, it also suggested extending existing support schemes to ease employers’ wage cost pressure and enhance foreign-local capability transfer.
The proposed measures were based on a survey in October on employers’ current and future challenges.
“These measures also align with the national priorities of forging a strong social compact, building a resilient nation and developing a competitive and sustainable economy with good jobs for all,” said SNEF.
Among the 237 members surveyed, more than one-third said more support could be introduced to improve productivity and competitiveness with AI. SNEF thus proposed better subsidised training for AI-related courses and specific grants to push for AI adoption.
As more than 86 per cent of respondents sought more governmental support to upskill and reskill the workforce, SNEF called for higher absentee payroll funding and course-fee funding, besides current measures such as SkillsFuture enterprise credit.
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“This helps employers in their efforts to equip workers with the skills they need to stay relevant in a fast-changing world, while keeping training costs affordable,” it added.
The federation learnt that three in four employers expect higher wage costs in 2024 due to Central Provident Fund (CPF) changes and asked for more support in this area. It proposed extending the CPF Transition Offset and providing transitional support for the increase in the CPF monthly salary ceiling.
With the expansion of the progressive wage model and introduction of occupational progressive wages, SNEF recognised the cumulative increases in manpower costs.
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The national trade union of employers proposed for co-funding levels for both tiers of the progressive wage credit scheme (PWCS) in 2024 to remain the same as in 2023. It also asked for an extension of the PWCS to 2030.
SNEF learnt that employers, especially from large companies, expect more support for capability transfer to local workers from foreign workers.
“This will also enable Singapore to remain an attractive investment destination with more opportunities for growth and development,” it said.
The federation therefore proposed increasing the funding and duration of the Capability Transfer Programme, which subsidises the costs of sending local workers overseas for training or engaging foreign specialists to train local workers.
SNEF president Dr Robert Yap said: “As we press on with economic restructuring and business transformation to build capabilities and seize opportunities in a new era of global development, we hope that Budget 2024 will continue to include measures to help employers thrive.”
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