Upskilling is vital but relevance, company support are key

Upskilling workers, which has been in the national conversation for a few years, is an integral part of Budget 2025 measures, as the global economy and technology continue to shake things up.

- Sue-Ann Tan

But such a transformation of the workforce faces challenges, such as the willingness of companies to allow their staff to take time off from work for training, and the need to ensure that the training is relevant and also benefits the employer.

Mr Musa Fazal, Singapore Business Federation's chief policy officer, said that the important thing is that "training shouldn't be done for the sake of training".

"We firmly believe that company-led training is critical and employers play a very important part in this," he said.

"It benefits the employers in making sure that the training actually meets the job needs of that employer. It also benefits the workers because (they) want to go for training which results in wage increases or makes them more employable across different types of job roles."

Mr Musa was one of the panelists in a discussion organised by The Straits Times as part of The Usual Place podcast.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah and labour economist Walter Theseira from the Singapore University of Social Sciences were also on the panel, which discussed measures introduced during Budget 2025 to help workers upskill and reskill.

One of the measures is a training allowance of $300 a month for those who want to work while upskilling themselves on a part-time basis. It is an extension of the Skills Future Level-Up Programme introduced in the previous Budget to support mid-career Singaporeans aged 40 and above in getting a significant skills reboot.

The Government is most concerned with the workers in this age group, said Ms Indranee.

She noted that those just coming out of school will be equipped with the latest knowledge and will be tech-savvy.