At her President’s Address on 24 August 2020, President Halimah Yacob spoke about the Government’s commitment to secure jobs for Singaporeans and keep our economy strong and competitive.

On 26 August 2020, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Communications and Information, Monetary Authority of Singapore and the National Research Foundation outlined their priorities in the new term.

Here’s a look at how the Government plans to weather the storm and seize new opportunities to transform our economy.

i. Preserving capabilities and helping our workers stay in jobs

Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI):

• Reopening our economy safely and sustainably to generate continued economic growth
• Preserving core capabilities for sectors facing a fall in demand but will eventually recover so that they remain competitive

Ministry of Manpower (MOM):

• Supporting National Jobs Council to open pathways for newly displaced workers to return to work; Eg. through heavily subsidised training and the Jobs Growth Incentive to support firms hiring local workers
• Helping Singaporeans in their job search, eg. through SGUnited Jobs & Skills Centres, and enhanced Digital Career Matching Services

Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI):

• Accelerating job placements, traineeships and skills upgrading in the ICT sector and related roles, through the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package, the TechSkills Accelerator and Cybersecurity Development Programme

Prime Minister’s Office (Monetary Authority of Singapore):

• Supporting individuals and businesses in exiting relief measures as the economy recovers, in order to minimise sharp cliff effects
  

ii. Sustain industry transformation efforts to support businesses and create good jobs

MInistry of Trade and Industry (MTI):

• Helping businesses in growth sectors to invest and expand, which will create good jobs for Singaporeans
• Helping businesses in sectors that have permanently changed to reinvent themselves; help affected workers in these sectors develop new skills for new jobs
• Supporting businesses and workers in seizing global opportunities created by trends such as remote working and automation

Ministry of Manpower (MOM):

• Adjusting foreign workforce policies to reflect the changed conditions
• Requiring businesses to invest more effort to develop and strengthen their Singaporean core
• Ensuring that employers uphold the Fair Consideration Framework
• Ensuring that retrenchment exercises are carried out fairly

Prime Minister’s Office (Monetary Authority of Singapore)

• Working with tripartite partners to support reskilling and upskilling in the financial sector; create jobs and traineeships for fresh graduates and mid-career workers
• Working with major financial institutions to ensure a solid Singapore core as part of a diverse and high quality workforce

iii. Strengthening our connectivity and hub status

Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI):

• Deepening and diversifying trade linkages, reaffirming commitment to keeping trade routes open, and ensuring the continued flow of goods with our partners
• Developing multi-modal transport solutions for traders and logistics players to use Singapore as a hub
• Continuing to anchor global and regional corporations in Singapore, which will provide more good jobs for Singaporeans
• Continue to facilitate safe long-term and short-term business travel to enable the safe resumption of international travel

MTI and MCI:

• Developing a network of Digital Economy Agreements with like-minded countries to help our businesses access overseas growth opportunities in the digital economy

Prime Minister’s Office (Monetary Authority of Singapore):

• Developing Singapore into a leading global centre for green finance, and strengthen the financial sector’s resilience to environmental risks

iv. Investing in technology and innovation as growth engines

Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI):

• Support the growth of local digital champions and raise the digital capabilities of our enterprises in Singapore.
• Build a secure and resilient 5G communications network, which will provide the foundation for innovative applications and services for our businesses and people.

Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI):

• Accelerating our innovation and digitalisation push
• Supporting growth sectors like biomedical sciences, financial services and the digital economy to invest, expand, and create good jobs
• Strengthening our existing toolkit to support businesses, eg. enhancing support for SMEs

Prime Minister’s Office (Monetary Authority of Singapore):

• Accelerating technology and innovation-driven growth in the financial sector through the enhanced $250-million Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme
• Progressing on digital solutions to strengthen operational resilience, improve productivity and better engage customers

Prime Minister’s Office (National Research Foundation):

• Support research, innovation and enterprise to generate economic growth, support national and societal needs, and capture new opportunities
• Scale up innovation platforms to translate our research outcomes into marketable solutions that create value
• Build a robust base of research scientists and engineers, with strong links to the global community