New tripartite council to help workers keep jobs, companies transform amid AI disruption

SINGAPORE – A new tripartite council will be set up to double down on plans to upskill workers, and help companies redesign jobs and adopt new tools, amid a disruption driven by artificial intelligence.

The Tripartite Jobs Council will comprise workers’ trade union National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), and employers’ trade union Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF).

While AI offers productivity boosts and new job opportunities, a major concern is the reshaping of skills as AI automates many job functions, including writing and coding.

“We recognise that there are many workers and businesses that are both anxious and uncertain about what lies ahead,” said Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng, during a press event on April 29 held at NTUC Centre.

“There are valid concerns about job security, the relevance of skills, worries about obsolescence, as well as the rapid, accelerating pace of change. These are real concerns, and we take them very seriously.”

Dr Tan will co-chair the new Tripartite Jobs Council with NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng and SNEF president Tan Hee Teck.

More members and detailed plans will be announced in the coming months.

Overall, the new council aims to build on existing programmes that have been set up by the tripartite partners, coordinate efforts as a centralised node, and deepen their reach to more workers and companies in every sector.

“By harnessing the combined reach and capabilities of our unions, employers and the Government, we will help every worker maximise their potential, and every business can thrive by bringing out the best in their people,” Dr Tan said.

The council will also complement efforts under the National AI Council, an inter-ministerial council chaired by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong that will drive AI missions in the four key sectors of advanced manufacturing, transport connectivity, finance, and healthcare. Specifically, the council will focus on providing:

Dr Tan, who is also Minister-in-charge of Energy and Science and Technology, cited results of an MOM survey done between January and March, which found that around 70 per cent of 2,560 companies in Singapore have not adopted AI for work.

Results from the survey were released on April 30.

In February, the Government announced a suite of AI initiatives that would be rolled out progressively in 2026.

Among them is an initiative that would give Singaporeans who take up selected SkillsFuture AI courses six months of free access to premium AI tools. Details of the qualifying courses and tools will be released later in 2026.

Plans are also in the works to train around 100,000 “AI bilingual” workers by 2029, by equipping the workforce with AI know-how to solve problems and redesign work processes for more efficiency. For a start, AI fluency programmes will be put together for the accountancy and legal professions.

Later in 2026, a self-diagnostic tool, developed by SkillsFuture Singapore to help workers assess their AI skill level, will be rolled out online.

Starting in May, NTUC members will be able to receive up to 50 per cent off subscription costs from a suite of 21 eligible AI tools that can support tasks like content creation and writing, by tapping their Union Training Assistance Programme benefits.

This comes under the AI-Ready SG initiative that was launched in February, which also offers AI training pathways that refer to a set of curricula catered to workers’ skill level, job, and sector. More than 4,000 workers have enrolled for AI training courses since this initiative was launched, said NTUC on April 30.

The labour chief, Mr Ng, acknowledged concerns among young people that skills and academic qualifications can no longer guarantee their first job, and worries among seniors about job security.

Dr Tan said matching young people to available jobs will be one of the council’s key focuses.

He added that they include fresh graduates from the institutes of higher learning, polytechnics, the Institute of Technical Education, and private educational institutions.

“(We will) work closely with e2i under the labour movement, and with SNEF.”

Among the companies that will require more help are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), said SNEF’s Mr Tan, who added that they face practical challenges such as the cost of adopting AI tools, skills gap, and lack of in-house expertise.

Though adoption of AI among SMEs rose to 14.5 per cent in 2024 from 4.2 per cent in 2023, this number still lags far behind the adoption rate of more than 60 per cent in larger companies, said Mr Tan, citing statistics from the Singapore Digital Economy Report 2025, which was published by the Infocomm Media Development Authority.

“If this trend continues, the divide will widen not just between SMEs and larger firms, but between workers as well.”

Though there are growing concerns about companies laying off staff and reducing hiring due to AI adoption, Dr Tan said there is “very little evidence of widespread displacement”.

Citing results from the MOM survey published on April 30, he said that 6.2 per cent of companies in Singapore reported that they had reduced headcount.

“About 18.9 per cent of them are redesigning roles, and 13.9 per cent are creating new AI-related jobs,” said Dr Tan, who added that this shows that AI is primarily transforming tasks, rather than replacing jobs or workers.

Earlier in February, PM Wong assured Singaporeans that the country would not have jobless growth amid the national push for AI to be more embedded in its economy.

“We will exploit AI to grow the economy, and we will ensure that growth translates into good jobs and better wages,” said PM Wong in his wrap-up Budget speech on Feb 26.