SINGAPORE - The labour movement will launch a new department next year to identify work opportunities of the future to help better match workers to up and coming jobs.

From Jan 1, it will open a Future Jobs, Skills and Training department to gather data on specific companies and industries where new investments and jobs will be over a three year timeframe. It will work with unions, professional associations, government agencies, consultancies and educational institutes to identify these opportunities, said National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay on Tuesday (Nov 1).

The research will then be disseminated to training providers and institutes of higher learning where it can be used to develop more relevant skills and training courses for Singaporeans. The NTUC Education and Training Fund can be used to support training programmes if national funding is not available, said Mr Tay, who will head the new department.

The first five sectors the unit will start pilot projects in by 2019 are financial services, infocomm technology and media, precision engineering, healthcare and education, said Mr Tay, who also heads the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower.

He added that ongoing work in this area is mainly in matching people who are currently unemployed with the currently available jobs, but the new department will be more forward-looking.

"Everybody is vulnerable because of the rate of job obsolescence... We have lots of jobs but how we can minimise the mismatch of people to jobs will be a challenge for a long time to come," Mr Tay said at a media briefing about the initiative.