As AI advances, S’pore will support workers through job redesign and shared gains: Jasmin Lau

SINGAPORE – Workers will be supported through the AI transition with a “fair deal” that prioritises job redesign, training and sharing productivity gains, Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Jasmin Lau said on May 6.

While the development of artificial intelligence cannot be slowed, Ms Lau said in Parliament that the Government will demand “clear and meaningful outcomes” for employees, particularly from companies benefiting from public resources and policies.

Her speech followed a motion by NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng on achieving “no jobless growth” amid AI disruption. It comes on the heels of the May Day Rally, where both Mr Ng and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong spoke extensively on protecting Singapore’s workforce as AI reshapes various industries.

Ms Lau, who co-chairs the technology and innovation committee in the Economic Strategy Review (ESR), addressed three core concerns: job security, widening inequality, and the sharing of productivity gains.

“These are not unreasonable fears,” she said. “They come from people who have worked hard, built up skills and experience over time, and now sense that the ground is shifting beneath them.”

While some roles, particularly those involving repetitive tasks, will change, Ms Lau said that the Government is moving to act before the disruption arrives.

To protect professionals, managers and executives as technology automates certain tasks, the ESR team will recommend more targeted support for them, including enhancements to the Jobseeker Support Scheme and private sector expertise to improve placement support, Ms Lau said.

It will identify sectors with continued labour demand and lower AI displacement risk, she added, and work with unions and employers in those sectors to create clear entry points for workers.

“We must make these pathways walkable and not just visible,” she said.

Acknowledging concerns that technology can amplify inequality, Ms Lau, who is also Minister of State for Education, said AI literacy will be built from a young age and beyond graduation.

AI literacy is now taught from primary school through to polytechnic and the Institute of Technical Education, ensuring students from all backgrounds can experiment with tools in safe environments, she said. And from late 2026, institutes of higher learning will offer selected AI courses to alumni at significant discounts for a year.

Those in the workforce who complete designated AI training will receive six months of complimentary access to premium AI tools, she added.

On sharing productivity gains with workers, Ms Lau said companies that benefit from AI should invest in their people rather than just the technology.

“That means training as many existing workers as possible, not only hiring new ones,” she said. “It means facilitating their employees’ access to frontier AI tools, creating communities of practice, and incentivising learning and upskilling.”

This also means redesigning jobs in close consultation with workers so that people can work alongside AI, using human judgment, context and experience, Ms Lau said, adding that companies should make a “serious effort” in reskilling and redeployment over retrenchment when roles change or disappear.

This is not just in Singapore’s interest, but also in the companies’ long-term interest, said Ms Lau, as human instinct and intuition remain key in this AI age.

“If you do not develop people who understand the context of your organisation and use this knowledge to reinforce your AI systems, you will be left with a very shallow and hollow company in future,” she said. “If companies here replace humans completely with AI, they will find themselves in future to have no competitive edge.”

In the long term, the Government will review the education system to focus on developing “distinctly human” skills like creativity and empathy, which Ms Lau described as the “hard edge of competitive advantage” in an automated world.

The goal, she added, is to build a system that demands both the “discipline to go deep and the freedom to go wide”. This involves broadening the definition of excellence to value students who ask unexpected questions or pursue their passions.

Singapore’s strength in navigating this transition lies in partnerships across the Government, businesses and unions, Ms Lau said.

“If we do this well, we will be able to create and sustain good jobs in the AI age,” she said, allowing for progression, fair pay, and constant upskilling to stay ahead of automation. “And it should give workers a sense of dignity and agency, not reduce their role to simply following instructions generated by machines.”

Addressing workers directly, Ms Lau said: “The Government is on your side, and we are acting before the disruption reaches you, not after. You will not be doing this alone.”