The labour movement's latest recommendations to better assist professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) include a support framework that incorporates financial aid to help unemployed people move into new jobs. The framework should include a basic tier to provide supplementary income relief and assistance, while an additional level could offer more support for union members and vulnerable, mature workers. The initiative, which was worked on by a task force from the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), involved consultations with around 10,000 workers and business leaders. The scale of the exercise attests to the importance of ensuring that PMEs do not feel ignored in Singapore's efforts to shore up its economic prospects even as it tackles challenges thrown up by the coronavirus pandemic. The spirit of tripartism has been evident in the NTUC and SNEF coming together to propose practical ways of helping workers without hurting business, and in how the Government has promised to continue to work with both labour and business to support PMEs as a part of its mandate to secure the livelihoods and well-being of all Singapore workers.

The strength of the tripartite framework lends credence to the recommendation of financial help for unemployed PMEs. The proposal would have been unthinkable in earlier times, when a robust employment market was created by the early globalisation of the Singapore economy. Unemployment benefits then would have created a crutch mentality which, by removing the incentive for paid employment through the provision of such financial support and benefits, would have led the country towards becoming a welfare state, whose downsides are apparent in the West.