Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam opened his latest Facebook post with what he called "troubling news": the fact that jobs would remain a challenge "over the next year, and possibly longer", in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Tharman, who heads the National Jobs Council, called for employers and jobseekers to play their part, even as he promised that the government would continue to commit its "full energy" into helping displaced Singaporeans.

Economic recovery to be "slow and bumpy"

The recovery of the international economy is expected to be "slow and bumpy", Tharman said.

Singapore could also be impacted by "possible repeated lockdowns" in various countries.

Even vaccines may not be a quick fix, he explained, as their availability and effectiveness are still uncertain.

Middle class incomes stagnating, but Singapore an exception

Tharman also explained that middle class incomes were stagnating in many advanced economies, though Singapore was one of the exceptions.

Another issue he highlighted was the fact that job creation tended to be concentrated at the high and low skilled ends of the labour market, with fewer jobs in the middle.

This, and other "longer term legacy problems", were already becoming entrenched elsewhere.

"We are making a determined effort to avoid that happening in Singapore," he said, adding that he was "convinced we will succeed".

"We will succeed if we all play our part"

Tharman, who is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, called for employers and jobseekers alike to accept that "no job match will be perfect".

On one hand, employers should give jobseekers opportunities "even if they come without all the required background or qualifications", and try to make use of their past experience or help them to "top up their skills" with the help of "generous support schemes" from the government.

On the other hand, jobseekers have to be "willing to step into new territory", he said, pointing out that "many" have found satisfaction in new careers.

New job portal

Tharman also introduced a newly-launched job portal, www.jobsgohere.gov.sg, which was designed to direct jobseekers to "both jobs and training opportunities, especially in our growing sectors".

He highlighted manufacturing, logistics, and "even pockets of the retail sector", as well as the emerging green economy, as bright spots in the economy. This was in addition to finance, healthcare, and ICT, which he called "obvious growth sectors".

The new portal is not intended to replace MyCareersFuture and MySkillsFuture portals, existing portals for jobs and skills training respectively.

Instead, it is "aimed at helping people use those main sites", Tharman explained in response to comments on his post.

"We also want to avoid, as much as possible, poor-fitting job matches that could mean a significant and permanent reduction in wages, and loss of already built-up skills," he added, and said that the portal would provide tailored information to users from different backgrounds.

Acknowledging that "there is a lot more to improve" in terms of the usability of the site, he also revealed that "parallel work on a new generation system" was underway.

In the meantime, however, he pointed to a "need to make the best use of what we have now and keep improving."

You can read the full post here:

Top image via Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Facebook and by Andrew Koay