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Mr Wong said that these will complement efforts at the national level through SkillsFuture, Workforce Singapore, the National Trades Union Congress' (NTUC) Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and tripartite efforts. “As a small open economy, Singapore will always be exposed to global ups and downs. When the world is going well, we feel the boost. When the world slows down, we feel it very quickly as well,” he said. “We have no control over these external swings, but with our combined efforts, we can mitigate the impact on our people. Whatever the state of the world or whatever the state of the global economy, we will ensure that jobseekers and workers in Singapore will always be supported and cared for. That is our commitment.” Mr Wong said that today, there are still job vacancies and unemployment remains low, but there is a sense that the job landscape is changing, leading to rising anxieties. This is partly due to near-term uncertainty created by the United States’ tariffs, which means businesses are holding back on expansion plans and new hirings, he said. It is also because new technologies, like artificial intelligence (AI), are changing business processes and job requirements, added Mr Wong. “So how do we respond to all these new trends? Our starting point and most important focus is to keep our economy strong, dynamic and vibrant, and to ensure we can navigate the rapid changes in the external environment,” he said, noting the work of Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong and the Economic Resilience Taskforce and the Economic Strategy Review committees. “But at the same time, we can’t just leave the creation of good jobs and the matching of skills to new demands to the market. These things don't just happen by chance, we have to be proactive about this.” Efforts on this front include expanding SkillsFuture to help Singaporeans reskill and upskill, and stepping up career counselling and job matching services to help fresh graduates find jobs.
