Speech by MOS Dinesh Vasu Dash at Response to WP Motion on “An Economy of the Future that Works for All”

Mr Dinesh Vasu Dash, Minister of State for Manpower, Parliament House

Mr Speaker, I thank the Members for bringing forward this Motion, and support the amendments proposed by Mr Edward Chia.

2 At the heart of this Motion is an important aspiration: that Singapore remains an economy where our people have opportunities to succeed, and our workers can look to the future with confidence.

3 I believe every Member of this House shares that aspiration. The Government certainly does. It has always been at the heart of our economic strategy. Our objective is not simply to grow the economy, but to improve the lives of all Singaporeans. We do this by creating better opportunities, better jobs and raising incomes. By ensuring that the benefits of growth are widely shared.

4 Let me make three points. First, Singaporeans have been and will always be at the centre of our manpower policies. Second, we must transform enterprises and uplift a broader range of jobs together. Third, our tripartite model is a fundamental source of strength, turning these aspirations expressed in this House into practical outcomes.

Keeping Singaporeans at the Centre of Our Manpower Policies

5 Our approach has delivered good outcomes for Singaporeans across the workforce.

- Our resident unemployment rate has remained low at 2.9% in March 2026.
- Real incomes have risen across the board. From 2021 to 2025, real income at the median grew cumulatively by 7.4%.
- Lower-income workers have seen faster income growth than the median worker. Over the same period, real income at the 20th percentile rose by 10.1%.
- Income inequality has also fallen.

6 Few advanced economies have been able to achieve all these outcomes at the same time.

7 Some Members have contrasted Singapore with other newly industrialised economies, arguing that their greater reliance on local champions has produced a better productivity model and better outcomes for workers.

8 But on comparable measures, Singapore’s wage outcomes are higher than these economies not only at the median, but also at the lower levels of  income.

9 In recent years, real wage growth has also kept pace with, and indeed exceeded, productivity growth. From 2021 to 2025, real value-added per worker increased by about 0.7% a year. Over the same period, real median income of full-time employed residents rose by about 1.8% a year, while real income at the 20th percentile grew much faster.

10 This did not happen by accident. But through sound growth policies and tripartite efforts like the Progressive Wage Model, workfare and the local qualifying salary that have uplifted wages.

11 More recently, despite a challenging external environment, Singapore’s labour market has remained resilient. While retrenchments in some companies may have dominated the headlines, employment expanded for the 19th consecutive quarter in the first quarter of 2026. Resident employment continued to grow, unemployment remained low, and firms continued to hire.

12 These outcomes are the result of deliberate policy choices. We have kept our economy competitive while ensuring that Singaporeans have access to opportunities, better jobs and clear pathways to progress. This had only been possible because Government, employers and unions have worked closely together.

13 Thus, the evidence does not support the conclusion that Singapore’s economic model is failing. We are navigating a structural transition, however difficult and uneven, from a position of strength. The system has served us well, but we must and will remain adaptable to the changing world.

14 Importantly, we are not standing still. We know the pace of change has accelerated. Workers expect more churn and disruption. Those who are displaced worry about how long they will take to find another job, and whether the next job will be as good as the previous.

15 So how should we respond?

16 Some fundamentals remain. As an open and small economy, Singapore’s prosperity has always depended on our ability to compete successfully in global markets while ensuring that Singaporeans benefit from that success. I am glad that there is broad agreement in this House on this fundamental point.

17 The ESR provides an actionable blueprint to address the very challenges that our economy faces. It was not a theoretical exercise. It was shaped by engagements with more than 7,700 stakeholders—including businesses, unions and workers—and grounded in Singapore’s realities.

18 The ESR has put workers at the heart of its strategies. Let me elaborate on how it does so in four ways:

- First, clearer pathways from skills to jobs
- Second, a stronger first step into work for our younger workers.
- Third, a trampoline back to work
- And finally, stronger ladders of mobility  

19 First, is to make it easier for Singaporeans to access career and skills support.

20 After more than a decade of SkillsFuture, we have built a stronger culture of lifelong learning. We will now focus even more sharply on employment outcomes—so that training leads to better jobs, better wages and better career progression.

21 Mr Fadli Fawzi asked about the outcomes of our workforce programmes. In 2025, more than 62,000 jobseekers secured employment after benefiting from Workforce Singapore’s programmes and services. Among jobseekers who received career-matching services in 2023, about six in ten found employment within six months. Our Career Conversion Programmes show what we can achieve when we journey with our workers. In fact, about nine in ten participants remained employed for 24 months after embarking on the programme, and about six in ten earned more than their previous salaries.

22 These are not perfect outcomes, and we must continue to improve them. But it made a real difference to those 62,000 jobseekers, they show why we should strengthen the system, not dismiss it.

23 Mr Fadli Fawzi called for more robust reviews of SkillsFuture training programmes, and for funding to be channeled to industry-relevant training. We agree. We have been strengthening quality assurance and sharpening our focus on courses that address identified skills gaps, improve employability and support workforce transformation. We are also looking at how to strengthen signals of industry demand, so that training remains relevant and delivers value.

24 At the same time, we recognise that we can do more to tighten the nexus between training and jobs. This is why we merged SkillsFuture Singapore with Workforce Singapore into the new Skills and Workforce Development Agency, or SWDA.

25 The SWDA will enable us to align future skills more closely with future jobs, identify at-risk workers earlier, and provide more seamless support from training to placement. This will help us close the gap between learning and earning. We will share more at the SkillsFuture Festival Launch event in September.

26 Second, a stronger first step into work – giving young Singaporeans a stronger start.

27 In today’s uncertain economic environment, with AI reshaping entry-level tasks, many fresh graduates and their parents are understandably anxious about entering the workforce. We recognise these concerns.

28 The WP argues that entry pathways for young people are broken. But the current picture is more resilient than suggested. In 2025, vacancies continued to outnumber jobseekers. In the first quarter of 2026, there were about 32,800 entry-level PMET vacancies, exceeding the number of graduates looking for jobs. Against this backdrop, around nine in ten university graduates from the 2025 cohort found employment within a year of graduation, comparable to previous cohorts.

29 The system has served us well but must continue to evolve with a new generation of workers and a changing work environment. As part of the ESR, we saw the need to bring learning and work closer together, including formally recognising on-the-job training as part of qualifications. We do this precisely because we want our young to have a good headstart in their jobs.

30 In this regard, we agree with Mr Andre Low on the value of expanding work-based pathways like apprenticeships. This is already a key direction of our efforts. Through initiatives such as the SkillsFuture Work-Study Programme, the AI Apprenticeship Programme and sectoral programmes such as MAS' Young Talent Programme for AI in Finance, we are helping more Singaporeans gain industry-relevant skills while working and supporting smoother transitions into growth sectors.

31 The task is now to broaden and deepen these pathways to connect education, work experience, skills recognition and employment. We share the aspiration of giving every young Singaporean a fair start.

32 Our goal is not just to help young Singaporeans get their first job, but to build strong career health from the start. This means giving them more opportunities to learn through work, gain recognised skills and credentials, and access tools and support including the Career & Skills Passport, to better navigate their careers. We will continue to strengthen these pathways, so that more young Singaporeans can build skills, gain experience and make a confident start in a changing economy.

33 Third, we are helping workers bounce back better.

34 In line with the ESR’s recommendations, we are studying ways to better support displaced workers and help them bounce back, including enhancements to the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support Scheme (JSS).

35 We did this because we understand what a challenging operating environment we are in, and we believe that Singaporeans who fall on hard times should receive support to enable them to return to work. That is why we designed the JSS to support re-employment, not unemployment. 

36 Mr Fadli Fawzi suggested the introduction of an unemployment insurance scheme that is funded through premiums and conditional on job search and retraining, time-limited, and capped at a certain percentage of last-drawn pay. It is not clear how this differs from the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme, except that the JSS places more emphasis on reemployment. But I suspect both schemes are similar to one another.

37 Instead of coming up with a new mechanism, the ESR has recommended that we strengthen schemes like the JSS, especially for PMEs navigating more difficult career transitions. We are studying how to do so, including whether the JSS should be enhanced to cover more PMEs, and give them greater confidence and assurance in their search for their next job.

38 Mr Fadli Fawzi and Mr Pritam Singh called for Mandatory Retrenchment Benefits. In fact, NTUC had long advocated that workers affected by retrenchment should be fairly compensated. I believe Mr Patrick Tay had also mentioned this in his speech  earlier. This is a matter that will be studied further under the Tripartite Workgroup on the Employment Act Review.

39 Mr Deputy Speaker, Singapore’s success has never come from choosing between protecting workers and keeping our economy competitive. We have to get it right—by creating job opportunities, helping Singaporean workers access them, and when they face the effects of economic disruption, ensuring that they will never have to navigate difficult and uncertain times alone.

40 Fourth, we are putting in place stronger ladders of mobility, to ensure inclusive growth.

41 We have consistently put inclusive growth at the heart of our strategies to make sure that no worker is left behind. The ESR follows that tradition. It is not about creating a fast lane for a few and a slow lane for the rest. It is about broadening our shared lanes to give every Singaporean the space to move forward and to get to their destination.

42 We are building on good foundations. Over 2014 to 2024, the ratio of income at the 20th percentile to the median improved from 0.52 to 0.55. Our efforts like the Progressive Wage Model and Workfare have been critical to this outcome.

43 Beyond uplifting the bottom, we are also building more pathways for good jobs. This includes good jobs in domestic and essential services where many workers are currently employed.

44 To this, let me briefly address Mr Gerald Giam’s suggestions on uplifting the skilled trades.

45 We share the aspiration for the skilled trades to offer better wages, stronger professional standing and clearer career progression for Singaporeans. We expressed that aspiration in the Forward Singapore exercise. The ESR similarly recommended broadening the range of good jobs, including by uplifting skilled trades and making work-based learning a more recognised route to mastery.

46 We are already working to realise this aspiration. As MOM announced in the Committee of Supply this year, we have formed a partnership with the Specialists Trade Alliance of Singapore (STAS) to develop more structured pathways into good jobs in the skilled trades, starting with the electrical trades. This initiative seeks to address many of the issues that Mr Giam had raised.  

Helping Enterprises Grow, So Singaporeans Benefit

47 But more broadly, the sustainable route to better jobs is higher productivity, better job design, stronger certification, modern tools and processes, and employers who are willing to share productivity gains with workers. All of which the Government will double down to strengthen.

48 This leads to my next point. Enterprise transformation and workforce transformation must work together. We support enterprises because their success creates opportunities for Singaporeans. This is especially important for SMEs, as they employ about two-thirds of our workforce. When firms invest, innovate and raise productivity, they create better jobs, build deeper capabilities and sustain wage growth.

49 We also want Singaporeans to have different pathways to contribute and succeed. For some, that will mean building a career in an established enterprise. For others, it may mean starting a venture of their own. With AI and new technologies lowering the cost of developing products, reaching customers and scaling across markets, entrepreneurship is an increasingly viable pathway.

50 Not every venture will succeed. That is the nature of enterprise and risk-taking. But we are expanding support for promising startups to build, grow and reach global markets. Singapore now has more than 4,500 tech startups, and the ESR recommendations will strengthen access to growth capital, technology, networks and overseas markets. Successful ventures do more than reward their founders; they create jobs and opportunities for other Singaporeans.

51 Some members may call for stronger Singaporean representation in our economy. We too want more of our local businesses to thrive but the answer is to build them up, not to shut them out.

52 Take Carousell for example. Carousell began with a simple idea – to make selling pre-owned items as easy as taking a photograph. What started as a mobile-first classifieds app, it has since grown into a leading online marketplace and omnichannel ecommerce business operating across Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, serving tens of millions of users across the region.

53 This illustrates how Singapore firms grow as they access international markets, overseas customers, global technologies and world-class business networks. We will continue to support young Singaporeans to go abroad and gain exposure to programmes like the NUS Overseas College and the Overseas Market Immersion Programme.

54 Strong local enterprises and global companies are not mutually exclusive. They complement one another.

55 Let’s also not forget that foreign companies support Singaporeans too, not just Singapore businesses. Foreign-owned firms make up around one-fifth of firms in Singapore today but employ nearly one-third of resident workers. In 2025, Singapore citizens and permanent residents held about 85% of senior management roles in these MNCs.

Celebrating the Strengths of Tripartism

56 My final point is on the importance of tripartism. In many countries, economic debates have become increasingly confrontational and divisive. Singapore has avoided this outcome, but we should never take this for granted. 

57 I have listened carefully to how this Motion frames its vision of our economic engine — entrepreneurs, households, businesses, workers, capital. Two partners are notably missing from that list: employers and unions. This is not a small omission. It is precisely the space in which wages are negotiated, jobs are redesigned and disputes are resolved without a single strike in decades. Any vision of our economic future that is silent on how it will work with these partners is an incomplete one.

58 Our tripartite partnership brings Government, businesses and workers to work together to expand the economic pie and ensure that the gains are fairly shared. That is what turns inclusive growth from an aspiration into practical outcomes – more investment, better jobs and rising wages.

59 The Company Training Committees are one practical example of tripartism in action. Since 2019, more than 3,800 CTCs have been formed, benefiting over 300,000 workers. Through the CTC Grant, companies and unions redesign jobs, build new capabilities and translate business transformation into better wages and career prospects. We will continue working with both NTUC and the Singapore National Employers Federation to build on this model, so that more enterprises and workers can benefit.

Conclusion

60 Mr Deputy Speaker, the aspiration behind this Motion is one that we all share.

61 We want an economy where Singaporeans can participate, contribute and succeed. An economy where workers can build meaningful careers, enterprises can innovate and grow, and more Singaporeans can create opportunities not only for themselves, but for others as well.

62 This is precisely what the Economic Strategy Review seeks to achieve. Not by choosing between growth and inclusion, local enterprises and global connections, or competitiveness and worker protection. But by pursuing all of these together.

63 This is how we turn economic growth into broad-based progress—through better jobs, better wages and better pathways for advancement.

64 That is how we have and will continue to build an economy that works for all Singaporeans. Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the amendments to the Motion, and the Motion as amended.