Work-readiness in Singapore

The fourth industrial revolution and labour market regulation in Singapore

“…Singapore’s policy responses to the 4IR must be viewed in the larger context of its labour market dynamics and city States growth and development strategy. While Singapore has enjoyed high employment rates fuelled by robust economic growth (Pang and Lim, 2015), its labour market has been characterised by low productivity growth, a relatively lower share of wages in national income and low growth in real wages especially in the bottom deciles of the income distribution (Asher et al, 2015; Hui and Toh, 2014; Waring et al, 2017).…”

“…Singapore's policy responses to the 4IR must be viewed in the larger context of its labour market dynamics and city States growth and development strategy. While Singapore has enjoyed high employment rates fuelled by robust economic growth (Pang and Lim, 2015), its labour market has been characterised by low productivity growth, a relatively lower share of wages in national income and low growth in real wages especially in the bottom deciles of the income distribution (Asher et al, 2015;Hui and Toh, 2014;Waring et al, 2017). These trends have been, at least in part, attributed to Singapore's growth and development strategy which focused on (1) developing flexible labour markets, (2) relying heavily on foreign labour, (3) creating a conducive environment for businesses by lowering taxes on capital and income and (4) developing complementary policies to crowd-in investments such as developing public infrastructure (Asher et al, 2015).…”

“…Such policies collectively place downwards pressure on wages. The impact of this strategy on Singapore's labour market has been further entrenched by the absence of strong labour market protections under the Employment Act 1968 (Singapore) that governs the skilled workforce, the Industrial Relations Act 1960 (Singapore) that governs collective bargaining and governance relationships in the labour market and the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act 1990 (Singapore) in Singapore that governs foreign labour (Waring et al, 2017). Current legislation is characterised by an absence of minimum wage levels or robust social safety nets (especially for migrant workers).…”

“…In more recent years, skill development, too, has explicitly manifested itself through the government’s SkillsFuture policy platform (see Waring et al, 2017). Beyond the funding of national training institutions, the Government has also opened up funding of digital courses, for example, data management and visualisation, business metrics for data-driven companies, Internet of things and others available through online learning platforms such as Coursera, and the development of industry-partnered programmes, for example, Digital Workplace in partnership with Microsoft, to future-oriented individuals, deepening an appreciation of technology, data and ultimately the future of work (Bali et al, 2020).…”

The Remarkable Healthcare Performance in Singapore

“…In 1980 more than four-fifths of residents had not completed any secondary education and only 3 per cent had a university degree (Pang and Lim 2015). The highest qualification attained has since improved significantly with more than half the resident population having completed a university degree, diploma, or a professional qualification by 2015 (Waring et al 2018).…”