Speech by Senior Minister of State for Manpower, Dr Koh Poh Koon at Committee of Supply 2025

Senior Minister of State for Manpower, Dr Koh Poh Koon, Parliament House

A. PREAMBLE

A1. Mr Chairman, I will now speak about MOM’s efforts to Empower Workers to Build Career Health at all stages of their lives. I will touch on four groups.

a.First, for the broad base of workers, we will help you build up your career health and resilience.

b. Second, for those who lose their jobs involuntarily, we will support you to bounce back into employment.

c. Third, for our senior workers, we will do more to uplift your productive longevity.

d. Fourth, for our migrant workers, we will continue to support and improve their well-being.

A2. Our workers start from a good position. In the past year, we enjoyed higher-than-expected economic growth and favourable labour market outcomes. Resident employment grew and median real income rose in 2024, reversing the previous year’s decline.

A3. We must continue to embrace innovation, so that workers can progress into better jobs, and businesses can generate growth that uplifts all Singaporeans. We must also develop a future-ready workforce that can navigate changes in the job landscape and compete for good jobs.

A4. Let me start with how we are supporting the broad base of workers to build their career health.

B. SUPPORTING WORKERS TO BUILD CAREER HEALTH

B1. Forward SG identified career agility and resilience as a key focus in our refreshed social compact. In this age of change and disruption, we need better awareness of our career prospects, to keep our skills relevant, stay on top of the competition, and seize new opportunities.

B2. To empower our workers to do so, we have launched Career Health SG, a nationwide initiative to help workers take charge of their careers and achieve their career aspirations.
Taking Charge of One’s Career Health

B3. How do we take charge of our career health? Just as we look after our physical health by (1) eating healthily, (2) exercising regularly and (3) having periodic medical check-ups, we encourage all Singaporeans to take charge of their own career health through three simple steps:

a. First, Assess. Just as we go for regular health screenings, we should regularly assess our career prospects and skillsets. Instead of reacting only when things go wrong, we should take proactive steps to identify our skills gaps and career opportunities.

b. Second, Chart. Just as we develop exercise and diet routines, we should chart our career and training goals. We need to constantly review and update these career plans based on changes in the labour market and our stage of life.

c. Finally, Execute. We need to act on our plans to seek better jobs, upgrade our skills, and stay competitive in the job market.

B4. Assess, Chart, Execute – by taking these three steps to take charge of one’s career health, we can ace our careers with better jobs, better wages, and greater resilience.

B5. To empower workers in this three-step journey, we are supporting our workers with jobs and skills insights to help them make informed training and career decisions. The CareersFinder feature on the MyCareersFuture portal is one example of this.

a. CareersFinder harnesses government data and AI to provide workers with personalised guidance and recommendations for

i. suitable jobs based on their skills and experience, and

ii. training opportunities based on their career goals.

b. More than 55,000 individuals have used CareersFinder since its launch. We have seen encouraging signs of users broadening their job search horizons. Users have applied for a wider range of occupations – almost 40% more! – after using CareersFinder.

B6. Mr Gerald Giam highlighted the need to go beyond digital tools, to support jobseekers with personalised and effective career coaching. For those who prefer in-person guidance, we have taken steps to make quality career guidance more accessible.

B7. We have piloted Polaris, where employed individuals can receive personalised career guidance from professionally certified career coaches.

a. Since November 2023, Polaris has benefited more than 620 individuals. Over 90% reported gaining clearer direction and higher confidence in planning their own careers.

b.One such participant is Ms Joanne Wang, the Regional Head of Marketing at Timezone. At 39, Joanne signed up for Polaris to better plan for her career and improve her management skills. With advice from her WSG career coach, she decided to pick up professional coaching to further develop herself and her team. In doing so, she boosted her team performance and her own career satisfaction.

B8. Jobseekers can also receive support from WSG’s Volunteer Career Advisors, who draw from their own industry expertise to provide peer-level support and career advisory. Under this initiative, individuals can receive sector and occupation-specific insights to help them plan for their career or transition to new roles.

B9. We also want to make quality career guidance even more accessible to all workers.

a. Some may hesitate to go for career guidance because they are concerned about the cost, and are uncertain about the quality of service providers. Mr Patrick Tay and Mr Yip Hon Weng proposed to allow the use of SkillsFuture Credits for career coaching.

b. We are pleased to share that we have extended the use of the base tier of SkillsFuture Credits, which comprises the $500 opening credit and the one-off $500 top-up that was given in 2020, to all eligible career guidance services endorsed by WSG. For a start, these credits can be used to offset Polaris fees. The list of endorsed providers will be expanded progressively, to help workers access quality career guidance.

B10. Beyond career guidance, Mr Gerald Giam also emphasised the importance of quality career matching services. As announced by PM at Budget, we will be expanding localised job matching to all CDCs. This will enable jobseekers to find work near their homes, to help them to balance work with personal commitments.

B11. This will contribute to the diverse range of services in the employment facilitation landscape. These services support all jobseekers, including those returning after a career break. The services include:

a. career matching services offered by:

i. WSG’s Careers Connect,
ii. NTUC’s e2i Career Centres, and
iii. Jobs and Skills Centres,

b. as well as services provided by WSG’s appointed career matching providers like Ingeus and AKG.

c. WSG also works with employers to reskill and place individuals into good growth jobs under programmes like the Career Conversion Programmes (CCPs) and Mid-Career Pathways Programme.

B12. In 2024 alone, these programmes placed more than 56,000 jobseekers into jobs.

B13. Through these efforts, we hope to empower our workers to achieve their career goals. Workers must also play their part to proactively upkeep their skills, regularly review their career plans, and seize good opportunities at every stage of their careers.

Supporting Employers to Build Employees’ Career Health

B14. Employers too, must play a role. Investing in career health is a win-win for employers and workers. Employers who do so can better attract and retain talent, sharpen their competitive edge, and grow their businesses.

B15. Associate Professor Razwana Begum asked how we can support employers to promote lifelong learning and skills development for their employees. The Government has continued to strengthen support for employers to invest in the career health of their workers, such as through WSG’s CCPs.

B16. These programmes have resulted in tangible career outcomes for employees. A recent study by MOM economists found that the Place-and-Train CCP increased participants’ wages by more than 2% in the year of placement, with the impact rising to over 6% in the subsequent years. Participants also improved their employment retention compared to non-participants. This shows that our efforts to reskill workers have an extended, positive impact on their wages and career longevity.

B17. Beyond supporting employers, we are also working hand-in-hand with employers to co-develop effective solutions. Last year, MOM and SNEF concluded the Alliance for Action (AfA) on Widening Access to Talent, which worked with businesses and Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) to develop practical solutions for skills-based hiring and workforce agility.

a. A key recommendation was to build employers’ capabilities to guide employees in developing their skills and careers. This entailed providing resources for employers to engage their employees in meaningful career development conversations. In line with this recommendation, WSG has been piloting workshops for HR professionals and line managers, to equip them to implement better-structured career conversations in their own organisations.

b. The AfA also found that employers who implemented an internal marketplace to support talent visibility and internal mobility better retained talent. One of the AfA member firms, Salesforce, introduced a Talent Community Platform with personalised career recommendations, training and resources for employees to navigate career paths within the company. As a result, Salesforce enjoyed higher talent retention amidst fierce competition, with their employees better able to plan for their careers and upkeep their skills. MOM is working closely with tripartite and industry partners on resources to enable more employers, especially SMEs, to implement their own internal marketplaces.

B18. For employers to implement these recommendations successfully, they will need to strengthen their HR to move beyond support functions, to play a strategic role in championing workforce transformation. This means taking pro-active steps to identify critical and emerging skills, and charting plans to fill those gaps in their companies through hiring and workforce development. Employers can tap on resources by the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP), such as their job redesign playbook, to meet these increased demands on HR. We will continue to support employers to strengthen HR capabilities under the Tripartite Workgroup on Human Capital Capability Development that Minister just announced.

B19. We will need the strong support of employers to uplift the career health of our workers, and will continue to explore new ways to enable employers to do this while meeting their business needs. For example, MOM and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) rolled out the Careers & Skills Passport, and are working with partners like JobStreet to use Government-verified jobs and skills data to facilitate job application and hiring. We encourage HR practitioners to tap on these initiatives to better understand their employees’ skills profile. This will support training, development and deployment, and better support your business growth.

B20. Few countries have invested in such a holistic and integrated set of efforts to support career planning and workforce development. This underscores our continued commitment to empower Singaporeans to thrive amid economic uncertainty.

C. ENABLING THOSE INVOLUNTARILY UNEMPLOYED TO BOUNCE BACK

C1. Even as workers build their career health and make progress along their career plans, life unfortunately, can present curveballs. In a more volatile economic environment, more may face career disruptions due to factors beyond one’s control.

Update on SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support Scheme

C2. Therefore, to empower those who lose their jobs involuntarily to bounce back into employment, PM announced the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support (JS) scheme last year.

a. The JS scheme is not just a safety net that stops one from falling, but is instead designed to act as a trampoline that helps one to bounce back. Together with other SkillsFuture programmes, the JS scheme helps individuals better navigate their job search to regain employment, instead of rushing into ill-fitting jobs due to immediate financial pressures.

b. The JS scheme targets lower-and-middle income workers, and will provide eligible jobseekers with financial support of up to $6,000 over six months. This will help them to get through setbacks and bounce back stronger.

c. We will be setting aside more than $200 million for the scheme and expect around 60,000 individuals to be eligible for the scheme each year. This accounts for more than 60% of those involuntarily unemployed.

C3.During my time as Deputy Secretary General in the Labour Movement, I encountered brothers and sisters who faced retrenchment. Being retrenched can have a profound emotional impact, often triggering a mix of shock, fear, anger and even shame. Many shared with me that they experienced a deep sense of loss – not just of income but also of identity and purpose. Some may feel a loss of self-worth, especially if their job was tied closely to their sense of identity.

a. During our Forward SG conversations, participants shared that instead of just giving hand-outs, a well-structured job seeking process that provides professional career facilitation support can help them regain their confidence as they navigate the job market.

b. The JS Scheme is therefore more than just financial payouts and a job – it includes a simple and easy framework to guide jobseekers along the activities that they should embark on, to equip themselves to find a job and re-enter the working world with confidence.

c. This framework, called the “jobseeker support activities-based system”, will guide our jobseekers towards re-employment.

C4. Mr Yip Hon Weng and Mr Patrick Tay asked for more details on what the activities-based system will entail.

a. With your permission, Mr Chairman, may I ask the Clerks to distribute a handout illustrating how this system will work. Members may also access these materials through the MP@SGPARL App.

b. As Members can see, jobseekers will be guided to complete meaningful activities like attending a career fair, updating their resume and going for career coaching. We have carefully curated these activities based on user research with jobseekers. Jobseekers have shared with us that the framework is useful in helping them to regain employment.

c. This activities-based system is also designed to ensure that jobseekers do not have to go through this journey alone. They can tap on WSG’s resources and speak to WSG’s career coaches, allowing them to benefit from professional guidance. Through these touchpoints, jobseekers will be more assured that they are on the right track to re-entering employment.

d. As jobseekers embark on these activities as part of their job search journey, we hope to build up their confidence. And when jobseekers eventually return to work, we hope they will regain their sense of identity and self-worth.

C5. Let me illustrate how the JS scheme will work. Mr Lim is retrenched from his job due to company restructuring. The Taskforce for Responsible Retrenchment and Employment Facilitation makes concerted efforts to reach out to all affected retrenched workers, such as Mr Lim, to offer career matching services.

C6. Through this, Mr Lim books an appointment with a WSG career coach who provides him with advice on job applications based on his skills. He also applies and joins the JS scheme following the advice from his career coach.

C7. During this period, Mr Lim makes use of the comprehensive employment facilitation support offered under the scheme, such as career coaching, SkillsFuture courses and career fairs. He also updates his resume and applies for jobs that match his skills, including those in less familiar roles or sectors.

C8. By making good use of the comprehensive support under the activities-based system, Mr Lim receives the guidance and financial support needed to build up his career health and bounce back into a well-fitting job. Equipped with new skills and having found a new job, Mr Lim regains his sense of purpose and self-worth.

C9. Throughout the process, Mr Lim is also able to focus on rebuilding his career, as the JS scheme provides him temporary financial support of up to $6,000 over 6 months. But I want to emphasise that the JS scheme should not be viewed in isolation.

a. The Government has in fact, in place various other schemes to provide financial support for those undergoing substantial reskilling or experiencing financial hardships.

b. For example, if Mr Lim enrols in long-form training while job searching, he can apply for both the JS scheme and the SkillsFuture Level-up Programme. Over a six-month period, he will receive up to $21,000, comprising $15,000 of training allowance and $6,000 of JS scheme payouts.

c. Jobseekers from households with financial difficulties may also receive additional social assistance from ComCare based on their needs.

C10. The JS scheme will be launched in mid-April 2025, and WSG will be sharing more information on the application process ahead of its launch. Involuntarily unemployed individuals can also visit WSG and NTUC-e2i’s centres island-wide for support in their job search.

C11. The JS scheme will be an added boost to Singapore’s ecosystem of support for unemployed individuals, empowering them to take ownership in navigating a difficult chapter of their lives, to emerge with better outcomes.

a. The key is providing jobseekers with financial assistance, complemented by a robust ecosystem of training and employment facilitation support. This way, we can strengthen our workers’ career health and their longer-term prospects, and help them to rebuild their confidence to pursue better jobs and make bolder career moves.

b. This is part of our desired social compact, where the Government will support you through difficult times, while you take personal responsibility and make an effort to overcome career setbacks and bounce back stronger.

c. Together, we will get through every setback.

D. EXTENDING THE PRODUCTIVE LONGEVITY OF OUR WORKFORCE

D1. Let me now speak about our senior workers, a group that has dedicated their lives to nation-building and deserve special attention.
Recap on Current Policies to Extend Productive Longevity

D2. Our population is ageing, and seniors today are living longer and healthier lives. We want to enable seniors to continue working if they wish to, so that they can contribute their expertise and accumulate more savings for retirement. This will also help employers meet manpower needs in a tight labour market.

D3. Our policies over the past decade have paved the way for seniors to work longer.

a. Last year, we announced that the retirement and re-employment ages will be raised to 64 and 69 respectively in 2026. This keeps us on track to meet our eventual goal of raising them to 65 and 70 respectively by 2030.

b. I am heartened that our Government and tripartite partners are taking the lead to implement the increases ahead of the national schedule. The public service and NTUC will be raising their retirement and re-employment ages to 64 and 69 this year, and SNEF has implemented the eventual goal of 65 and 70 since 2021.

c. I encourage all employers to start preparing for next year’s increases.

D4. As seniors work, we will also help them save more for retirement. Since 2022, we have been implementing the Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers’ recommendation to increase CPF contribution rates for senior workers.

a. As PM announced at Budget, the CPF contribution rates for those aged above 55 to 65 will increase further by 1.5 percentage points in 2026.

b. At the same time, the Government will extend the CPF Transition Offset (CTO) for another year. This will help ease the transition for employers by covering half of the increase in employer contributions for 2026.

Extension of Senior Employment Credit (SEC)

D5. We will continue to enhance our current measures to enable our seniors to work longer.

D6. Today, the Senior Employment Credit (SEC) provides up to 7% in wage offsets to employers who hire Singaporeans aged 60 and above, earning below $4,000 a month. Since its introduction in 2021, more than 117,000 employers have benefited from the scheme, hiring over 514,000 senior workers. Around $1 billion has been disbursed.

D7. As PM announced at Budget, we will extend the SEC by one year to 2026. In line with the increase in the Re-employment Age to 69 years old in 2026, the qualifying age for the highest SEC wage support tier of 7% will also be raised to 69 years old, up from 68 today. We hope this assures employers that the Government will support you to prepare for our ageing workforce.
Launch of Tripartite Workgroup and Alliance for Action

D8. Our efforts to help seniors extend their career runways have paid off. Our labour force participation rate for those aged 60 to 69 was 59.7% in 2024, up from 55.8% in 2019. We are proud to rank alongside the top five OECD countries.

D9. But there is more that can be done.

a. Today, seniors are leaving the labour force before 65, with many leaving in their 50s. Our labour force participation rate falls from 86 percent for those aged 50-54 to 67.9 percent for those aged 60-64 – a stark decrease of about 18 percentage points.

b. This is due to various reasons. Some wish to slow down and focus on family or personal commitments. Others have not worked for some time and may need to refresh their skills to return to the workforce.

D10. Mr Yip Hon Weng and Mr Sharael Taha have highlighted that all stakeholders must play their part to effect broader societal shifts to support senior employment.

a. Workers will need to embrace career changes over longer working lives.

b. Employers will need to redesign jobs and build capabilities for a multigenerational workforce.

c. The Government will enable these shifts, by working with our tripartite partners to develop targeted measures to drive senior employment.

D11. This is the impetus behind the Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment, which I will be co-chairing alongside NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Mr Desmond Tan, and SNEF Vice-President Ms Tan Hwee Bin. As announced by PM at Budget, this will be a significant tripartite effort to review and refresh our approach towards senior employment. It signals our tripartite commitment to co-creating solutions that meet the needs of workers and employers.

D12. The Workgroup will focus on two key objectives.

a. First, to empower senior workers to be productive and employable. With longer working lives, workers will need to continually upkeep their skills and remain open to trying new things in their late-stage career. Mr Desmond Choo and Mr Xie Yao Quan asked about what more we can do to train and place our senior workers. Through the Workgroup, we will study better tailoring such services to suit seniors’ preferences and needs. For a start, WSG and its partners will provide targeted career guidance workshops for seniors, to help them better plan for their later-stage careers.

b. Second, to promote age-friendly jobs and multigenerational workplaces. We want to support multi-stage careers, where workers can adjust their workload based on their needs and aspirations. For example, Mr Desmond Choo and Mr Mark Lee suggested to scale up job redesign and fractionalised work that caters to senior workers. We will explore these ideas and more under the Workgroup.

D13. To kickstart this journey, the Workgroup will convene an Alliance for Action on Empowering Multi-Stage Careers for Mature Workers. The AfA will bring together diverse stakeholders to co-create new ideas, and pilot innovative ways to make workplaces more age-friendly. This echoes Mr Sharael Taha’s point on going beyond schemes to shift workplace culture. Instead of adopting a top-down approach, we want to take each step in collaboration with our stakeholders, so that positive change can truly take root and bear fruit.

D14. The AfA will work towards two goals.

a. First, we will engage citizens from all walks of life, to develop insights on the challenges and opportunities of an ageing workforce. We will hear from current and future seniors, as well as management and HR professionals representing employers of different sizes and sectors. By engaging widely, we can hear directly from stakeholders, and build an enduring social compact together.

b. Second, we will work closely with employers to prototype innovative solutions to better support senior employment. Participating employers will receive funding and consultancy support to develop new models customised to their business needs. We will be opening applications to join the AfA soon, and I encourage all interested employers to sign up and be pathfinders for your industries. In turn, the insights from the AfA will inform our approach towards senior employment.

D15. Mr Chairman, allow me to say a few words in Mandarin.

D16. 自2022年，我们逐步调高年长员工的公积金（CPF）缴交率，帮助他们储蓄更多退休金。到了2026年，55至65岁的员工公积金缴交率将上调1. 5%。过渡性公积金抵消计划（CTO）将延长一年。政府将承担雇主需要额外支出部分的一半，以缓冲雇主成本提升的负担。

D17. 为了更好的支持有意继续工作的年长者，我们将在今年成立年长员工就业劳资政工作小组（Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment）以检讨并更新年长员工的就业政策。我们将征询公众和雇主的意见，深入了解劳动力老龄化所带来的挑战，并探讨如何更有效地发挥年长员工的潜力。我们也将试行新的方案，让年长员工能按照自己的生活节奏，继续地在职场做出贡献。

E. MIGRANT WORKERS

E1. Another group we want to support is our migrant workers. We have made significant moves to improve their well-being in recent years.

E2. Mr Louis Ng suggested increasing penalties for employment kickbacks.

a. The collection of kickbacks is a serious offence, which MOM takes a firm stance against.

b. The Ministry will not hesitate to press for the maximum penalties if a case warrants it. To date, the Courts have imposed substantial fines of $10,000 to $15,000 per charge or imprisonment terms.
c. On top of these penalties, the Courts will order offenders to surrender the monies received from the affected worker if no restitution can be made. This ensures that offenders cannot retain the illegal kickbacks. We will continue to work closely with our stakeholders to stamp out kickbacks, and ensure that our migrant workers are treated fairly.

F. CONCLUSION

F1. Mr Chairman, the Government will be implementing several measures to empower Singaporeans of all walks of life to build their career health and seize good job opportunities. We will uplift different segments of our workforce so that no one is left behind.

F2. We will continue to work closely with our tripartite partners and other stakeholders to develop a competitive workforce and support employers in their business growth. Together, we can sustain our economic growth and build a shared future for all Singaporeans.