Remarks at Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce Press Conference

Minister for Manpower and Minister-in-charge of Energy, Science & Technology Dr Tan See Leng, MDDI Press Centre

1. Together with our tripartite partners and SBF, we have been actively listening to workers’ and employers’ concerns to assess what level of support we need to put in place.

2. The good thing is that we have started from a relatively decent position, having built up a strong base of support for our businesses and the workforce, and there were quite a number of schemes recently launched or enhanced at Budget 2025.

3. We have enhanced our support for businesses to internationalise and enter new markets. This includes:

1. Extending the S$100,000 per new market grant cap for the Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) grant to help companies enter new markets.
2. Permanently doubling the maximum loan quantum for the Enterprise Financing Scheme – Trade Loans (EFS-TL) from S$5million to S$10million.
3. Extending the Double Tax Deduction for Internationalisation (DTDi), so that businesses can continue to benefit from a 200% tax deduction on eligible expenses for overseas market expansion and investment development activities.

4. To support companies in their efforts to grow through Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As), we have also expanded the scope of the EFS-M&A scheme to cover targeted asset acquisitions from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2030, in addition to existing support for equity acquisitions.

5. For workers, we have introduced the SkillsFuture Level Up Programme, which supports mid-career Singaporeans aged 40 years and above to pursue a substantive skills reboot and stay relevant in a changing economy.

6. We also now have the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme to support involuntarily unemployed jobseekers while they look for their next job. From its launch in April to June 2025, the scheme has already supported about 2,200 jobseekers. In the recent weeks, we have also seen the number of applications for the scheme stabilise.

7. These enhancements come on top of a suite of existing programmes to help jobseekers, including Workforce Singapore (WSG)’s career matching services and Career Conversion Programmes. I encourage workers to make good use of these existing avenues of support to boost your resilience.

8. This morning, I launched the Career Health SG initiative to support Singaporeans to build more resilient and fulfilling careers. By serendipity this could not have come at a better time. I encourage all workers to take concrete action to build up your career health to stay nimble and agile amid the uncertainty.

9. One segment that we have heard concerns about is fresh graduates, who may face anxieties starting their careers in these turbulent times. We understand your anxieties. We want them to be assured that there is support available.

10. Our IHLs have stepped up their career guidance efforts to better support graduates in their job search. WSG has also introduced Polaris by Volunteer Career Advisors (VCA) to connect young workforce entrants with industry experts for insights on career paths, access to industry knowledge and professional networks, so that they can develop a personalised career development plan.

11. At the same time, I appeal to graduates and parents to stay calm. We have taken a more granular careful look at the data on jobs and graduate employment this year. While it is still early days, we do see some silver linings in the data so far.

12. Employment rates of the 2025 graduating cohort in June were comparable, in fact slightly higher, than they were the same time last year. Vacancies for entry-level jobs have also remained steady. To illustrate my point further – based on a very preliminary MOM study, employment rates as at June 2025 is 51.9%, slightly higher than June 2024, which was at 47.9%. So that’s four percent higher for the 2025 cohort, compared to 2024. These are early days, because we are looking at a very small snapshot. But whatever we can do to calm the apprehensions would be important. Again, I want to reemphasise that vacancies for entry-level jobs have also remained steady. Opportunities remain available. In the public sector alone, there are currently about 2,400 immediate vacancies suitable for fresh graduates available on Careers@Gov. This includes roles such as engineers and software developers. Graduates can learn more about these vacancies through a Public Service career fair which the Government will organise in August.

13. To our 2025 graduates, it is still early in your job search. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind to different opportunities in their job search. Rest assured, the Government and our tripartite partners will continue to support you and walk every step with you. I also urge businesses to think long-term in building future leaders, and invest in developing our young workforce.

14. While there will be uncertainty ahead, I should emphasise that currently we are not in a crisis, nor are we in a recession. The labour market has generally remained resilient. There are still more job vacancies than jobseekers, with 1.64 vacancies per unemployed person as of March 2025. The vacancies that are likely to be filled by residents accounted for about seven in 10 of these total job vacancies, and they are largely concentrated in expanding or growth sectors. The proportion of firms with an intention to hire or raise wages in the next three months also rose slightly from the pre-tariff period in April and May 2025.

15. Hence, our focus now is building up the resilience and adaptability of our businesses and workforce. In line with this, we have decided after deliberations with our tripartite partners to introduce a set of support measures focused on helping workers adapt and stay resilient in the face of the uncertainties, volatilities and risks ahead:

1. In line with our efforts to help workers build their career health, the Government and NTUC-e2i will expand access to career guidance services to help workers and jobseekers navigate the current economic uncertainty and prepare their next moves. Over 85% of respondents reported gaining clearer direction and higher confidence in planning their own career after going through the Polaris suite of career guidance programmes. As announced at Budget 2025, individuals may already tap on their base tier of SkillsFuture Credit for eligible career guidance programmes. To make career guidance even more accessible to all, we will further defray out-of-pocket fees and scale up the provision of career guidance. 
   
   
2. Strong HR leadership is critical to help employers manage and support their workforce amid the volatile environment. To support this, we will temporarily enhance funding support for basic HR certification for HR professionals. We will share more details on these programmes in due course.

16. Now, let me talk about what we are doing for businesses. Most are continuing to monitor the situation. Some may be deferring major investments and decisions due to the uncertainty, as articulated by the President of the Singapore Business Federation. Others have been reviewing their own business plans. We have consulted with our tripartite partners on how we can provide support for our businesses to adapt to the new tariff environment and reconfigure their supply chains, where required.

17. Taking into consideration the feedback and suggestions from our tripartite partners, we will be introducing a new Business Adaptation Grant that will support businesses to review their existing overseas footprint, in light of this new tariff environment. Businesses who export to and/or have operations in overseas markets, and are impacted by the tariffs, will be able to tap on this Business Adaptation Grant to assess the tariff impact and obtain advisory on supply chain optimisation. Businesses with local or overseas manufacturing operations will also receive support for their reconfiguration needs, which include logistics and inventory holding costs. This grant will be available by October this year, and for a time-bound period of 2 years.

18. Notwithstanding the current uncertainty, we encourage businesses to continue making plans to improve their productivity, innovate and remain competitive. Businesses can tap on existing schemes such as the Market Readiness Assistance Grant, the Enterprise Development Grant, and the Enterprise Financing Scheme (EFS) to do so. These schemes support businesses who wish to:

1. Enter into new markets through defrayment of costs in overseas market promotion, set-up and development.
2. Conduct business transformation and innovation activities. 
3. Access financing to support their growth needs.

19. The Taskforce will continue to monitor the adequacy of all of our support measures for businesses and workers as the global economic situation evolves. Should there be an unexpected turn for the worse, the Government, together with tripartite partners, stand ready to provide more support to businesses and workers. Our fundamentals remain strong, and I am confident in our ability to withstand any storms to come.