PM Lawrence Wong at the 10th Anniversary of SkillsFuture

My Cabinet colleagues
NTUC Secretary-General
Chief Executives of SkillsFuture SG and Workforce SG
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

I am very happy to join all of you this morning to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our national SkillsFuture movement.

It is fitting that we are doing it this year as we mark SG60 as well.

Because the Singapore Story has always been about our people – our grit and resilience in defying the odds and reaching greater heights time after time.

And SkillsFuture is about our people – it is about bringing out the best in every Singaporean. 

‘SkillsFuture’ since 1960

SkillsFuture itself may be relatively new. But its roots go back a long way.

Because in 1960, soon after we attained self-government, we set up the Adult Education Board. Some of you may remember it.

Back then, literacy levels were low, and many workers did not have formal schooling.

So the AEB (Adult Education Board) ran basic education classes for working adults who had missed out on primary education.

And later it also offered vocational courses for working adults to upgrade their skills; as well as courses for those who wanted to pick up practical skills or learn something for personal interest.

At its peak, the Board ran dozens of study and training centres across the island.

That, in fact, was our first version of SkillsFuture!

Of course, over time, we evolved our approach.

We ran classes through the BEST and WISE Programmes. We developed and strengthened our institutions of higher learning – our universities, our polytechnics and ITE.

Later, we set up the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) to ensure workers had the skillsets needed for the new demands of an increasingly knowledge-based economy.

And then in 2015, we launched the SkillsFuture movement.

Following that, we reconstituted WDA into two agencies – SkillsFuture SG (SSG) and Workforce SG (WSG) – so that each agency can focus on skills and employment respectively, and give both a push.

While we have two agencies, and two agencies under two different Ministries – MOE and MOM – we always remind them they are joined at the hip. They have to work seamlessly as partners. Because SkillsFuture is not just a policy, it does not belong to just one ministry, it is a whole-of-government, in fact it is a whole-of-society, it is a national movement. And so both agencies have to work seamlessly and in partnership together to advance SkillsFuture, and to ensure a seamless experience for individuals and employers alike.

And both indeed share a common mission – which is to enable Singaporeans to learn for life, to pursue skills mastery, secure better jobs, and grow meaningful careers.

10 Years of SkillsFuture

And so, working together these last 10 years, we have indeed come a long way.

We have empowered everyone to take charge of their own learning through SkillsFuture Credit.

We have put in place a more vibrant learning eco-system with a wide range of approved courses, many of which are highly subsidised.

And we have encouraged companies, including many SMEs, to invest in their workers and workforce transformation.

Many Singaporeans have benefitted from SkillsFuture.

About one-fifth of our workforce participates in SkillsFuture-supported training every year.

That is good; I think we can still do better. But it is not just about the participation rates; because we see very encouraging outcomes.

The alumni of these SSG and WSG programmes secure better jobs with higher pay. And they are able to reskill, upskill and adapt to changing job roles.

We see more businesses sending their workers for SkillsFuture-supported training.

And some of the leading companies now become “SkillsFuture Queen Bee” companies – in other words, they are not only sending their workers for training, but they themselves provide training advisory or the training itself: training which is industry-relevant, and helps to level up skills across the entire industry.

So many stakeholders, many partners have worked hard to advance our SkillsFuture movement these last 10 years. And today, I would like to say a big thank you to all of you for your contributions and hard work! Thank you very much.

Our Next Phase

There is still much more we can do to maximise the impact of SkillsFuture and take it to even greater heights.

So, this morning, let me share some thoughts on what we should aspire towards.

First, we must make it easier for all adult workers to access industry-relevant training. We have done better in this regard, but there is still a lot we can do.

Because the common feedback from people, and you hear it all the time is, they say: “I want to improve my skills, but I do not know where to begin”.

In the past, it was more straightforward. Like I said, we had AEB in the 1960s. Then we had BEST and WISE classes. It was all about levelling up basic skills — go for basic education, go for basic literacy and then go for basic vocational training. And the classes could be easily conducted across centres, and we encouraged people to take up these programmes.

Now, it is more challenging, because our economy is more advanced; Singaporeans are better educated. We have more diverse needs and aspirations; and actually, we have many more training options to choose from.

Choice is very good, but sometimes too much of it can be overwhelming. It is like watching TV, in the old days, we just watched Channel 5 and Channel 8, and then Suria and Vasantham. Four channels, and then after that, Channel 12, so five channels, quite straightforward. Now, there is free-to-air, there is streaming, and you got multiple streaming platforms, and you do not really know what programmes you want to choose. It is very overwhelming. So it is the same when it comes to training. There are so many courses out there. You have the luxury of choices and options. But sometimes it leads to more confusion rather than clarity.

So as a government, working with our partners, we have to do better at curating the courses, and helping Singaporeans identify the ones that give them maximum benefits, and that are suited to them.

Take the example of digital skills, especially AI skills. We all know it is important. Take AI as an example. If we were to do a survey in this room, and I were to ask you to rate yourself, what is your level of AI competency? Not as a programmer, but just as a user — someone who actively uses ChatGPT or any of these models, and what confidence levels do you have using it to improve your productivity at work. Just take a survey – you do not have to do it now, just in your mind – a mental survey, if you would rate yourself from a scale of 1-10, I am sure there will be a range of different answers in this room. And then if I asked you a next question: if you want to improve, do you know where to improve, how to improve? I am sure you would be kind of not quite sure, right?

But if you think about it, just as basic literacy was important in the past, today a baseline level of AI literacy will become just as fundamental. This is the new basic literacy for our time.

So how do we get Singaporeans to understand this, show them what AI courses to take? And not just for themselves, but how can they use AI to improve productivity and processes at their workplaces?

How do we get employers on board?

And how do we raise AI proficiency across the entire workforce?

This is one concrete area that we will have to think about and improve.

Beyond such a broad-based level of skills, we also want Singaporeans to go deeper – specific industry skills – and that is why we launched the Career Health Initiative to provide Singaporeans with tools and services to help you chart the training you need to achieve better career outcomes across a range of different industries.

Whether it is AI training or industry-based training, the kind of training you need to improve yourself will typically go beyond just a 1 or 2 day course. The 1-2 day courses are good — it gives you a taster, it helps you sort of just get a sense of what you need, but you really cannot go deep.

In order to get a substantial injection of skills, we all need to put in time and effort.

I know it is not easy to commit to such training, especially for mid-career workers with families to care for.

And that is why we recently introduced the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme.

The Level-Up Programme includes not just a significant SkillsFuture Credit top-up – that is $4,000 for those who are 40 and above.

But more importantly, it includes a monthly allowance (of up to $3,000) when you pursue a full-time course, and we will extend the allowance to those who take part-time courses as well from early next year. So you get the Credit. The courses are usually already heavily subsidised, but there is some amount to pay, and you can use your Credit to go for these courses, and on top of that, if you study full time or part time, you get a monthly allowance to help you go for training.

So I hope this will encourage more people to take training and learning seriously, and we hope everyone will make full use of these opportunities to upgrade themselves. On top of that, as I said just now, we will do our part in the Government to better curate the programmes so that you know which courses to access.

The bottom line is this: you are not alone in your SkillsFuture journey; and for every Singaporean, the Government’s assurance is that we will be there to guide you every step of the way.

Second, we want to make SkillsFuture more industry-oriented, so that the courses are designed with industry needs in mind, and businesses are motivated and encouraged to invest in training.

So SkillsFuture is not a movement involving just individuals alone; it is also a movement that encompasses and brings on board all our employers. In fact, employers are an important part of this national movement. If you speak to businesses and employers, they will say “yes sure, I want to invest in training”.

But at the same time, all employers will be concerned about putting so much investments into their worker. They may not say that publicly, but it is on their minds, naturally. Because the employer will think to themselves: if I spend so much on my worker, investing in them, how can I be sure that he or she will stay on with me? What happens if I spend so much investing in this worker, and then after the training, they go and join my competitor? How will that benefit me?

A business, an employer has to focus on doing well, doing good for their company, and they naturally worry that their workers will leave them. So left on their own, all employers – this is not just a Singapore phenomenon, this happens everywhere in the world, it is natural – left on their own, left to the market, employers everywhere are more likely to under-invest in training. That is a reality.

And so the Government comes forward, and that is why we see a role for the Government to provide funding support to help employers play a bigger role in training their workers, to play a bigger role in advancing our national SkillsFuture movement.

We do so today through many schemes, and one of them is the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit.

Just as we have a Credit for individuals, we also have a Credit for employers. But when you talk to most employers, a lot of them do not even know that the Credit exists actually. Awareness is quite low. And even for those who know about the Credit, the take-up is not very high. Perhaps, part of the reason is that it is on a reimbursement basis – employers have to pay first and then they get reimbursed with the Credit later.

So as we had announced in this year’s Budget, we are redesigning the Credit.

We are making it an online wallet.

It is $10,000 of credits per company.

And you can use the credits to immediately offset out-of-pocket costs, because it is a wallet, so you can use it immediately, and you can apply to offset the cost for all eligible workforce transformation initiatives and courses.

We are still working on this, and it will be ready in the second half of next year.

But it is one example of how the government understands employers’ concerns. We know you want to invest in your workers, we also know the concerns you have, and that is why we are stepping forward, providing you with funding support, and encouraging you to do more to invest in every worker you have.

Third and finally, we want to strengthen this culture of lifelong learning and skills development in our society, across the board.

And this, as we all know, requires a major mindset shift. It is already happening, we have made progress, but still we have to keep pushing at it.

Learning is not about cramming for examinations or attaining academic qualifications. No matter what you may feel, and what parents with young children may feel about the importance of exams, it is just one part, one small part of learning.

Learning is really about continuous improvements throughout life, whether by learning new things, deepening one’s existing expertise, or putting in the effort to maximise your potential in everything you do, across your life, and all of us as we lead longer lives may well have not just one or two but many more career transitions. So we have to keep on learning in order to achieve our full potential in everything we do.

Furthermore, the world around us is changing rapidly, and the skills we need will change over time. Even if we stay in the same industry, skillset requirements will be different, new technologies will emerge, and we have to keep improving ourselves.

So everyone has a part to play in this national SkillsFuture movement.

Individuals have to take ownership and responsibility for their own training journey.

Employers and trade associations can help by focusing on their business transformation and investing in their workers.

The Labour movement and unions are such a critical partner in this as well. I see some of you here. We work closely with you to engage businesses, but also our workers, and a very important initiative that NTUC has pushed forward is the CTC (Company Training Committee), where we get businesses to transform their business models and then translate this into new training for workers, so that the businesses benefit, but the workers also benefit from job redesign, from better-paying jobs.

And of course, tertiary institutions and training providers are key. We engage them, we involve them in the training, and we make sure that the training aligns with industry needs, and we also design high-quality offerings for different learning needs, from long-form courses to bite-sized modules that can be accumulated and that can be added up into a substantial programme.

So these are all the different stakeholders and partners involved in the SkillsFuture movement. It is quite a complex ecosystem. Which is why in countries everywhere, no one really has a good model. We are at the vanguard of this. And we have been trying to put together all the different pieces – all the institutions, partners, stakeholders – fit them all in, align the incentives, get everyone to work together on the same path. Like I said, we have made good progress in the last 10 years, and we will continue to push in the years ahead.

The Government will continue to do our part.

As an employer, we will set a positive example.

Importantly, as the policymaker, we will continue to find ways to bring all the different stakeholders together.

To better align and synergise our efforts.

And ensure a more conducive and seamless ecosystem for lifelong learning – for both individuals and employers alike.

Let me highlight some role models that we want to showcase, because I think they embody this spirit of lifelong learning – both individuals and employers alike.

One of them is Ms Kalai Selvi. She is 41.

She dedicated 15 years to preschool education.

But she wanted to pursue a career in technology – a passion that she had nurtured since building her first CPU at the age of 18.

So she took matters into her own hands. She pursued a course to gain foundational IT knowledge. In 2023, she started work as a Front Desk Support Engineer.

Later, she wanted to deepen her expertise. And so she used her SkillsFuture Credit to complete a course in System Support.

And now, she is a Desktop Support Engineer. From preschool to IT. And she is not stopping there; she is working towards a diploma in cloud administration! A remarkable spirit.

Another role model and example – Mr Muhammad Mekhdar, who is 33.

He is the opposite – he worked in ICT before. Unfortunately, his company underwent restructuring, and he lost his job.

And this happened one month after he welcomed his first child. So it was a particularly difficult time for him.

The job is different, different responsibilities, but we have a Career Conversion Programme, which enabled him to get up to speed quickly at the new organisation.

And now, he is happy there, he is charting out his own career goals, and he hopes to become a team lead at SMRT, so that he can mentor newer employees, just as he had benefitted from the guidance of his seniors. Also a lot of resilience, supported by Workforce Singapore’s programmes, he is now doing well.

And I should highlight a company example. One example is this company called Chrisna Jenio. It is an SME in the food business.

The name may not ring a bell, but if I tell you that they operate pretzel stores in Singapore called Auntie Anne’s, then you know what this is about, because all of you would know the store Auntie Anne’s, and they are the ones that brought it to Singapore and help to operate these stores in Singapore.

The company incorporated digitalisation and automation in its work processes. Which is good for them, so they raised productivity.

But they also redesigned the jobs, so they are able to reduce the more mundane and labour-intensive tasks.

As a result of this, they gave their workers more value-added responsibilities, for example in service innovation. So they reskilled their employees to equip them for these better and redesigned jobs.

As a result, the company achieves its goals, it does better, and the workers benefit from better jobs with higher pay.

And for this commitment, it earned the WSG Workforce Transformation Award for SMEs last year. Well done!

There are many other examples, which we will continue to highlight. Because one of the things about making cultural and mindset change is that people must see positive role models. And we should move away from just highlighting role models that showcase exam success, which we are very used to, to showcasing role models that embrace lifelong learning, throughout life, amongst individuals and amongst employers. And so we will continue to showcase more of that. All the ones I highlighted just now exemplify this spirit of lifelong learning.

Improving and striving to do better – be it as a business, as an employer, or as an individual.

And I hope all three, as well as other success stories, will inspire many more Singaporeans!

Conclusion

SkillsFuture is a key pillar of our refreshed social compact in Singapore.

It is a major effort to transform our economy and our society.

We have stepped up significantly our investments in SkillsFuture.

But there is still much more to do, and we will continue to do more in the coming years.

Together, let us make SkillsFuture an integral part of our Singapore DNA – a culture of lifelong learning and continuous growth, where everyone can strive to be the best versions of themselves. Thank you very much.