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May Day Message 2010 by Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Manpower

GROWING AS ONE SINGAPORE

Last year, we celebrated May Day amidst a sharp economic downturn. Our focus was on building resilience, helping companies stay viable and cutting costs to save jobs. One year on, our tripartite efforts with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) to upturn the downturn have paid off.

2.   Our seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate as at December 2009 was 2.1%, lower than that of many other economies.  Employment grew despite the economic recession, with a total of 37,600 jobs created for the whole of 2009. Looking ahead, MTI has upgraded Singapore’s 2010 GDP growth forecast to 7%-9%. Our strong tripartite relationship and mutual trust have allowed us to emerge from the downturn stronger, more cohesive and more resilient.  This will put us in a strong position to tackle future challenges and grow as One Singapore.

3.   Moving forward, our focus will be on transforming our economy and creating inclusive growth. The national productivity drive will require concerted tripartite efforts involving companies, unions, and the Government. Companies must take the lead in raising productivity by being innovative and helping workers become more productive. As our economy moves towards higher productivity, the skills of our workers will need to move up in tandem. Workers must take ownership of their own upgrading, improve their skills to seize new opportunities, be flexible and adaptable. The Government will work with companies and workers to facilitate the productivity drive at the industry, company and individual levels. We will also build up a comprehensive national Continuing Education & Training (CET) system through which our workers can upgrade their skills for better jobs and our companies can have access to skilled manpower to support their growth.

4.   Even as we embark on the transformation of our economy, our efforts to reach out to all segments of workers must continue to ensure inclusive growth. The finalised set of Tripartite Guidelines for Re-employment of Older Employees was released in March to help employers and employees be re-employment ready. We will need continued tripartite support to encourage companies to adopt the guidelines ahead of re-employment legislation. For low wage workers, we have enhanced the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) and introduced the Workfare Training Scheme (WTS) to help them progress through training and upgrading. For the growing segment of professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), we will be expanding the CET system to better cater to their needs. A new tripartite mechanism will also be put in place to help professionals, managers and executives and their employers resolve their employment disputes.

5.   Everyone has a role to play in our productivity drive. We must strengthen our tripartite solidarity further and work together to raise productivity and achieve a win-win-win outcome for businesses, workers and all Singaporeans. I look forward to working with NTUC and SNEF as one tripartite movement to grow as One Singapore.

Happy May Day!