SINGAPORE - Reskilling and upskilling have long been national priorities for Singapore, but with a rapidly ageing society, the need to equip the workforce for the future has become more urgent than ever.

During a roundtable discussion jointly organised by The Straits Times and The Business Times on March 7, the panellists, including Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah, discussed factors such as technological changes that have accelerated the need for an updated workforce in Singapore.

Moderated by ST associate editor Vikram Khanna, the UOB-sponsored discussion, titled Singapore Levels Up, sought to discuss how Singaporean workers and businesses can upskill and upgrade to stay relevant and competitive amid a changing economic landscape.

The panel also featured UOB senior economist Alvin Liew; Mr Ang Yuit, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises; and Mr Desmond Tan, deputy secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Ms Indranee said emerging areas like digitalisation, sustainability and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI) have advanced quickly over the past 10 years.

“These are all things that both employers and employees have to grapple with. And hence the need to upskill, learn new and diverse skills has accelerated,” she said.

With such changes taking place, workers are also feeling the pressure, and some may have concerns about job security.

Mr Tan said: “We did an economic sentiment survey just before the Budget with about 2,000 respondents, asking them how AI and sustainability are affecting them and their sense of security in their jobs.”

The results of the survey revealed that about 15 per cent are worried about job losses due to AI, while more than 50 per cent felt they may keep their jobs, but that the job scopes would change.

“Therefore, the need for reskilling is now more urgent. The need for change is upon us. Workers also feel it,” Mr Tan said.

The panellists noted that the rise of AI is a major driving force in the need for upskilling the workforce, adding that the specific skills and competencies required to stay relevant might also have changed over the years.

Mr Ang said: “First, we have got to understand that AI is advancing and evolving very rapidly. It is really important that we as a nation start to build up competency, depth and utilisation and get really comfortable with it.”

He added: “Ten years ago, we were talking about digitalisation, and many companies were moving up along the digitalisation process. But with AI, the timeline is more compressed, and in just a year, so much has changed.

“It is at the right time that we’re looking at reskilling and having all these schemes to look into upskilling our workforce.”

Mr Liew added that it is particularly important to focus on the older segment of the workforce.

He said: “What a person learnt 20 years ago may not be relevant in the current market, and therefore that reskilling process is also quite urgent.”

Ms Indranee said many of the skills that are necessary now are in areas that were not top of mind just several years ago.

“Somebody in his 40s today would have come out of university 20 years ago, when data analytics wasn’t even a thing. We weren’t even thinking of data as an asset, let alone how to analyse and use it,” she said.

“But it makes a lot of sense at age 40 to say, I want to go for a course on this, whereas somebody who’s just coming out of university now would probably have access to data analytics courses.”

The minister added that workers in their 40s today should be given a chance to acquire new skills to help them grow.

Mr Tan agreed that those above 40 are most in need of support.

Referring to the 2023 Singapore Labour Force report, he noted that a large proportion of those who are unemployed for over six months are mid-career, senior or older workers above 40 years old.

“It shows that this is a group of people who, when they lose their job, tend to remain unemployed for a longer period of time,” he said.

Mr Tan added that many of these workers also reported feeling more pressure to stay at work rather than take time off to learn new skills.

“This is a group of people who have significant financial responsibilities,” he said.

“They have to continue to work because they can’t afford to take on training. If they go on training, who is going to support their family?”

He added that those aged 40 and above need more support in the form of training allowances as well as training credits.

Under the SkillsFuture Level-Up programme unveiled in the Budget, a $4,000 SkillsFuture credit top-up will be given to Singaporeans aged 40 and above in May.

The credit, which will not expire, can be used for about 7,000 part-time and full-time courses designed to generate better employability outcomes.

In addition, Singaporeans aged 40 and above who enrol on a full-time course will receive a monthly training allowance of up to half their last-drawn pay, capped at $3,000, for up to 24 months when they pursue certain full-time courses.

This will help them partially defray the loss of income from taking time off work, and encourage more workers to take up training programmes.

The panellists agreed that such measures are particularly important, and expressed hope that as the workplace landscape continues to evolve, more help will be provided for Singaporeans as they look to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world.

Mr Liew said professionals, managers, executives and technicians might have relevant skills and experience, but face the possibility of losing their jobs if they are in sunset industries.

“I see their (career transformation via SkillsFuture) as a possibility for them to look into another industry that’s up and coming, where they can repurpose their original skill set into the industry,” he added, citing the example of a logistics manager who moved from manufacturing to pharmaceuticals.

“It’s a win-win situation – he can get something relevant to his level and the economy itself gains by retaining his skill set, (compared with situations where) he participates in a gig economy, for example, where his years of experience are no longer useful or relevant to that,” said Mr Liew.

• Additional reporting by Prisca Ang.