Speech at Career 2012 Show – Opening Ceremony

Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Minister-of-State for Manpower and National Development, Suntec City Convention Hall

1. Good morning to all of you. It is my pleasure to join you today at the opening of the 23rd CAREER show.
   
   Economic and Employment Outlook
2. The economic outlook continues to remain uncertain. The Eurozone is grappling with systemic difficulties and many advanced economies are still fighting high unemployment. But this is not a short-term problem with quick-fix solutions. Unless major restructuring occurs, there is a real risk that their younger generations will bear the consequences many years down, and we have already begun to see very high youth unemployment rates manifesting in some of these countries.
3. Fortunately, Asia is projected to continue to grow robustly, albeit slower compared to previous years.
4. As we are open and highly connected, Singapore will inevitably be affected by slowdowns elsewhere. If our economy, companies and businesses are affected, it will also affect our job market. Nevertheless, we are standing on firm ground. Our investments in education, continuing education and training (CET) and maintaining a flexible labor market has stood us in good stead. I am confident this will remain so. But we should not be complacent and must continue to navigate Singapore nimbly in such uncertain times.
   
   Government continues to invest heavily in Continuing Education and Training
5. Continuing Education and Training or CET is a tool which we have used to strengthen our competitive advantage. CET was the foundation of our counter-recessionary measures which helped save jobs and upskill our workforce during the last economic downturn. And CET will remain an integral part of our efforts to steer our economy and workforce through future challenges. Furthermore, while economic restructuring make some jobs today obsolete, CET will continue to be a key enabler to prepare our workers for the jobs of tomorrow, arming them with better career prospects in new growth sectors.
6. That is why the Government invests heavily in CET. The Government committed in 2010 to invest $2.5 billion over 5 years to nurture a culture of lifelong learning among our workforce and enterprises. Besides giving Singaporeans the opportunity to progress in their careers, CET will help us raise productivity as we seek to build globally competitive companies and a world-class workforce. Productivity improvements and continual skills upgrading, is the core of our national strategy to increase Singaporeans’ incomes in an inclusive and sustainable manner.
7. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM), through the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), has set up an extensive CET infrastructure. We have 3 national CET Institutes, 42 CET Centres, and about 390 Approved Training Organisations providing more than 14,000 training courses. In 2011, more than 248,000 workers participated in WSQ certified training courses. WDA also has in place Professional Conversion Programmes to assist job-seekers who wish to transit into new jobs or growth industries.
8. In addition, we are building two national CET campuses which will offer integrated training and upgrading programmes. When ready by end 2013, both campuses can train up to 50,000 workers annually.
9. As we build infrastructure and courseware, we will continue to ensure that programmes are made accessible through substantial course fee funding and support for companies. This is the best way to provide opportunities for Singaporeans - by ensuring they progress in their careers and earn better incomes.
   
   Why events like CAREER 2012 are important
10. The competition for investments and jobs will get tougher. That is why events such as CAREER 2012 are important. It gives students and job-seekers face-time with hiring companies. It helps match your new skills with jobs, and is another great platform to find the training you need to improve your career prospects, and the government assistance available to support that training.
11. To facilitate a flexible and responsive labour market, the Manpower Ministry is also doing its part to provide job-seekers, employees and employers with comprehensive labour market information.
12. MOM, in collaboration with 19 ministries and agencies, publishes the Career Compass¹ annually to help students make informed decisions on their courses of study, or their career. Career Compass is an online career guide that provides students with information on manpower demand in key industries, as well as detailed occupational information such as nature of work, employment conditions and wages.
13. For job seekers, we also publish the Labour Market Highlights² which highlights jobs that are currently in demand, as well as the wages, qualifications and training pathways relevant to industries ranging from aerospace to social services.
14. For employers, the MOM has collaborated on a new initiative with various government agencies and educational institutions to produce a Manpower Resources Guide³. This inaugural edition covers the Infocomm, Food & Beverage and Biomedical Sciences industries. It provides information on the potential pipeline of students that will be graduating from educational institutions from 2011-2015 to help employers find the right talent for their manpower needs. For example, F&B companies with expansion plans can tap on the guide to obtain detailed information on the number of graduates in related studies that local institutions will supply from 2012 to 2015, as well as their skills specialisation.
15. The Guide also includes a special feature on other viable sources of manpower such as older workers and back-to-work women that employers should consider tapping on. As we restructure Singapore’s economy toward productivity-driven growth, we are also adjusting to slower workforce growth. This latent pool of local manpower will be an increasingly important resource for companies, especially in the current tight labour market.
    
    Conclusion
16. There is a wealth of resources available and an expanded range of Government support for SMEs, workers and self-employed persons. The Government will continue to provide more targeted assistance, including to PMEs, and more will be shared during the Committee of Supply debates next week.
17. To conclude, I want to encourage everyone to embrace life-long learning and keep upgrading so that you can remain employable and relevant to the job market. As long as our Singapore workforce retains our strong work ethic and positive attitude, and our employers look after their workers and innovate to stay productive, we will position ourselves well to thrive in good times, and ride out any economic turbulence.
18. I wish the organiser a very successful event and I wish everyone the best in your educational and career pursuits.
19. Thank you.