SINGAPORE – Efforts to revamp SkillsFuture will centre on helping mid-career workers in their 40s and 50s stay competitive, given this group is most vulnerable to technological disruption, noted Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Friday.

He cited as an illustration the way the rise of personal computers and the Internet impacted his mother’s work as a teacher in the 1990s.

“She did all her work on the typewriter and adjusting to a PC was very hard for her,” Mr Wong said, adding that she retired at just 55, out of frustration.

He warned that this kind of disruption is set to happen more frequently as emerging technologies like generative artificial intelligence and robots gain traction and, in turn, affect many more people than the blue-collar workers, teachers and technicians who were hit in the 1990s’ computerisation wave.

Mr Wong, who is also Minister for Finance, said “a lot of effort” will be put into helping mid-career workers reskill and upskill to prepare them for ongoing changes in the workplace.

His remarks came during a panel discussion at a National Trades Union Congress event at the NTUC Centre at One Marina Boulevard, to launch a report on the concerns and aspirations of workers.

Mr Wong’s fellow panellists were labour chief Ng Chee Meng, Senior Minister of State for Defence and Manpower Zaqy Mohamad, and Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) president Robert Yap.

NTUC president Mary Liew moderated the discussion.

An audience member asked the panel how to minimise the tension between enabling career progression for younger workers, and allowing a longer work tenure for senior staff, as young workers could have to wait longer in the wings to succeed their older colleagues.

Mr Ng said individual companies may have limited growth possibilities as a result of such tension, but there could be room to job match within a cluster of industries domestically.

Depending on the company’s context, it may also be possible to groom younger workers for leadership roles by sending them abroad to gain international experience, he added.

“If you just look at a single dimension, you will never be able to solve the problem,” he noted.

Mr Ng responded to another question by noting that the labour movement is exploring supporting former offenders working in unionised companies to reintegrate to the workplace by providing peer support from a union leader.

This leader would ensure the former offender develops better habits and avoids falling back into bad company, while serving as a bridge between the former offender and the probation officer.

Still, Mr Ng said the NTUC does not have “all the solutions”.

He said it would have to find partnerships as it pushes for workers’ interests, including social organisations that work with former offenders.

Dr Yap touched on the responsible employment of foreign professionals to ensure skills are transferred to local staff, as well as the potential for SNEF to work together with the Government to match job seekers with employers.

Mr Zaqy said the Government would study the NTUC report and how best to implement the labour movement’s recommendations.

For instance, he said guidelines on flexible work arrangements that the Government, employers and labour movement are jointly working on will address issues surrounding caregiving.