THE current economic downturn is likely to last longer than previous ones, warned Labour chief Lim Swee Say, who said helping workers and companies weather the current recession is the top concern of the labour movement.

Speaking on the sidelines of a service awards presentation ceremony on Thursday, Mr Lim said: "This current downturn is unlike what we went through in 1998, 2001 and 2003.

"This downturn is global in nature and I think there's a lot of restructuring that need to be done on a global basis. So in other words, from the labour movement point of view, our concern is that firstly this downturn is likely to last longer compared to previous downturn."

Cutting business cost is one way of beating the crisis, he said. But that cannot be the only way. Singaporeans must also continue to "update, improve and better" themselves so that when the economy recovers, they are ready and prepared to catch the opportunities.

The Labour movement , Manpower Ministry and Employers' Federation are working together to help workers here.

Mr Lim said Singapore is in a better postion to weather the current downturn. The government is doing all it can to ensure that the unemployment and retrenchment rates do not rise above the 1997 Asian financial crisis levels.

He said: "I'm cautiously confident that we should be able to continue to ensure that there will not be any runaway unemployment happening in Singapore so that, hopefully, not many workers will suffer the pain of this downturn."

NTUC is working with other agencies and the Government to roll out training and retraining packages soon and make these available to employers and workers.

Mr Lim presented SuperStar awards to 10 winners at the annual Excellent Service Award ceremony.

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