To launch The Signature Series of events for this year, we were honoured to have Dr. Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry as our guest speaker on 30 March 2023. The Minister shared his insights on MOM’s initiatives and its Committee of Supply (COS) 2023 announcements. He also fielded a diverse range of questions which covered everything from the multi-generational workforce, to geopolitics, inflationary price pressures, including high rentals, energy and the impact of supply chain disruptions.

Here are some key takeaways from the dialogue:

• MOM’s 3 main COS themes this year are: enabling businesses and workers to seize opportunities by strengthening support for both and by securing better workplaces.
• The ability to attract global talent and global businesses to Singapore provides an opportunity to complement and uplift our local workforce.
• DP holders are able to work in Singapore by applying for a work pass and most applications are approved. Unsubstantiated reports they can’t are not helping anyone.
• The Singapore labour market is experiencing healthy growth.
• More can and will be done to enable the 250,000 women who are not in the workforce to enter/re-enter it.
• Manufacturing is and will remain an important pillar of the Singapore economy.
• Singapore is not a low cost location for businesses but it will remain one of the most transparent in terms of costs and regulations.
• Sectors that face most manpower shortages include the full range of Tech roles, those in the green economy and in healthcare. There are job redesign and career conversion programmes available to help workers reskill and upskill to stay relevant and employable.

The Chamber sends special thanks to Dr. Tan See Leng for his time and insights, to Mr. Martin Hayes our First Deputy Chairman for moderating the session and to the audience for posing all those diverse questions.