Singapore's hefty fourth Budget, announced in Parliament on Tuesday (May 26) by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, is training its key focus on jobs.

Bearing in mind the closure of thousands of businesses in April, the outlook for a hefty 7 per cent shrinkage of Singapore's economy and its inevitable toll on unemployment figures, DPM Heng announced a S$2 billion Jobs & Skills Package as part of what he's calling Singapore's Fortitude Budget.

To administer and oversee this, however, he's calling in the big guns — specifically the man who could possibly be the most qualified in Singapore to do so: Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

The Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, says DPM Heng, will lead a new National Jobs Council that will oversee the creation of jobs and the building of what Heng describes as "deep skills" among Singapore's workers.

"This important effort will be integrated with the work of the Future Economy Council on the overall upgrading of our economy, through the Industry Transformation Maps in each cluster. In this way, we can marshal all our experiences and expertise to manage the huge changes that are coming our way."

And indeed, Tharman is qualified — here's the list of relevant past posts he's held in government:

1. Finance Minister (2007 - 2015)
2. Manpower Minister (2011 - 2012)
3. Education Minister (2003 - 2008)

In fact, that was what DPM Heng said too:

"Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, as Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, and former Finance as well as Education Minister, has both detailed knowledge and deep expertise in this issue."

And that's just in Singapore — oh, did we mention he's also chairman of our central bank, deputy chairman of our government investment vehicle GIC and also involved in plenty of international-level financial organisations?

So for those of you hit by job cuts, retrenchments, or have been put on unpaid leave in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and resulting economic recession, keep a close eye on the details coming from SM Tharman's committee that'll be coming our way soon enough.

Read more about the Jobs & Skills Package and what it entails here:

Top photo via via Tharman Shanmugaratnam's Facebook page