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Introduction
Mr Speaker,
I speak on behalf of the various segments of the Singaporean workforce, the low-income, PMEs, mature workers and many others across the Labour Movement including public officers.
In a Budget, workers look for 2 things most: assurance today and confidence for tomorrow especially in an age shaped by rapid technological shifts, demographic change, and workplace transformation.
Their aspiration is simple and shared: stable jobs, sustainable wage growth, and dignified progression over longer working lives. And they want to know that even as industries transform, they will not be left behind.
I am heartened by the many honourable members’ speeches who shared similar concerns that our workers must be at the heart of this transformation. I thank them for their care. Budget 2026 gives assurance to households while laying long‑term foundations for a more resilient workforce and brighter economy.
The pressure to keep up and the risks of falling behind is real
On the ground, workers especially PMEs tell us candidly: they want to keep up. Workflows are being digitalised, re-designed and more AI-enabled. Tasks evolve faster; skills expire sooner.
So, many workers do the responsible thing: they try to upgrade, learn new tools, adapt to new work. However, challenges remain, fear of failure, insufficient time to upskill/reskill and not knowing what to upskill or re-skill for, and at times, there is no change after the worker has upskilled or reskilled.
Here, I urge the government to encourage companies, small and big to partner the NTUC and the unions to leverage on the Company Training Committee (CTC) to prepare for the future of work and to grow both the organisation and its workers as part of the transformation journey.
The earlier we prepare, the better the chances of workers being upskilled and to be more efficiently deployed.
Budget 2026 also takes a decisive structural step: SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and Workforce Singapore (WSG) will merge into a single agency jointly overseen by MOM and MOE.
This will tighten the link between training and jobs, offering more seamless career guidance, upskilling, job matching and transitions for workers, and integrated support for employers. This move recognises the faster cadence of technology and job transitions and the need for a single “jobs–skills” backbone.
The merger builds on a decade of SkillsFuture: in 2025 alone, 606,000 individuals participated in SSG‑supported training, and 123,000 enrolled in courses with direct employability outcomes - this signals a workforce investing in its relevance and wanting to stay relevant for the future.
We therefore should make the merger count for outcomes: track and publish conversion metrics such as time‑to‑placement, wage growth post‑training, and employer adoption; co‑design more CTC–like Jobs–Skills pathways so training is planned with job redesign and hiring from the start; and extend mid‑career training support in ways that don’t penalise caregivers or SMEs with lean staffing.
When disruption happens, the consequences for workers are painful
For some, the fear is not abstract. They have seen colleagues retrenched after restructuring; roles outsourced; functions automated. Retrenchments rose to 14,400 in 2025 on the back of a choppy global outlook. We are looking forward to AI transformation; the fear continues to be real.
In these moments, unions step in to ensure fair process, negotiate fair benefits, and facilitate placement support through e2i. Early notification to unions is not a procedural nicety; it is the difference between proactive help and reactive damage control. Many unionised companies recognise this. They give unions advanced notice of upcoming retrenchment exercises, sometimes even months ahead.
We should institutionalise advance retrenchment notifications across all firms, including for PMEs, so affected workers can be rendered meaningful assistance early and with dignity.
Year‑to‑year contracts: ongoing work, ongoing insecurity
Another structural concern is the year-to-year contracts, where there is ongoing work but a whole lot of ongoing insecurity. The continued prevalence of fixed‑term contracts, especially annual renewals, puts pressure on workers. While the share declined slightly in 2025 with over 90% of resident employees now in permanent jobs, around 7% remain on fixed‑term contracts, and older workers are disproportionately represented among one‑year contracts. For them, renewal uncertainty makes long‑term planning and upskilling harder, which puts them at risk of falling behind.
This issue is felt acutely by mature PMEs who already face longer job searches. Their reality should push us beyond administratively convenient renewals towards clearer pathways to permanency where work is ongoing.
The Public Service, as one of our largest employers, can lead by example. Public sector data shows nearly 24% of officers are aged 50 and above. We should be more transparent about contract tenure patterns, renewal outcomes, and pathways to permanency where roles persist so officers can contribute with confidence and plan for retirement with clarity.
I urge for regular employer reviews of fixed‑term contracting particularly for workers and for the Public Service to publish more granular indicators on contract‑to‑permanent pathways where functions continue beyond a cycle.
Longer working lives need sustainable work intensity, not just more training
PMEs today operate at sustained high intensity long hours for some, but more often constant connectivity, with limited mental space to recover. Officially, average weekly hours for employed residents have moderated to about 41–43 hours, and MOM has encouraged flexibility through the Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests but the intensity outside formal hours matters too. Surveys show over 90% of employees have worked beyond official hours, with 71% fearing negative repercussions if they don’t respond after hours.
Rest is not about doing less; it is about sustaining effort and well-being. Without sustainable norms, even the best upskilling will under‑deliver. Burnout erodes adaptability and retention.
I encourage Employers to set organisational norms around after‑hours responsiveness, escalation rules, and protected focus time.
I also call on the Government to monitor hours‑and‑intensity indicators and spotlight firms that redesign work to raise productivity and protect recovery.
Budget 2026 strengthens retirement adequacy and security
I thank the Government for a one‑time CPF top‑up of up to S$1,500 in December 2026, targeted at seniors with lower retirement savings based on their CPF balances and property Annual Value.
The next step of planned CPF contribution increases for senior workers will proceed from January 2027, with a transition offset to help employers.
CPF will also pilot a new simplified, low‑cost, lifecycle investment scheme by 2028 to give members more diversified options above base interest rates. This broadens pathways for workers who can take modest market risk across a long horizon.
These measures matter because not all workers reach retirement with the same trajectory. Some face mid‑career retrenchment, illness, or years on rolling contracts that depress CPF accumulation.
We should continue targeted CPF support for workers with disrupted careers tracking cohorts with extended unemployment or caregiving breaks and calibrating top‑ups to close adequacy gaps over time.
Mature workers want to contribute match experience with opportunity
NTUC’s own survey showed strong willingness among older workers to remain economically active beyond the current retirement age and even re‑employment ages. They are motivated by purpose and health, as much as by income. But access to career guidance and training remains uneven: many who tap on these opportunities find them helpful, yet others have shared that they feel disadvantaged or overlooked in being considered for them. We must close this access gap.
We already see credible models: in healthcare, age‑inclusive job redesign and assistive tech to help older staff to keep contributing positively, with unions partnering management and tapping CTC support to scale solutions. This is precisely the kind of redesign we need to mainstream.
We should embed career guidance as a default in mid‑career pathways under the new jobs–skills agency, and to scale union‑employer pilots that pair job redesign with structured upskilling for older teams, across sectors.
Practical enablers for SMEs and the public sector
SMEs often tell us their challenge is not only funding, but time and manpower to release staff for training. Where unions are present, we have negotiated training leave into collective agreements; this must be spread by example into non‑union and SME settings, with redesigned shifts, modular stackable courses, and just‑in‑time learning aligned to job redesign.
The Public Service can catalyse norms through transparent dashboards on contract renewal patterns and clearer pathways from fixed‑term contract to permanent posts when work is ongoing. That signal will ripple to the wider labour market.
What Budget 2026 means for families today and for our future workforce
What Budget 2026 means for families today and for our future workforce is that while there were expectations on the ground for more support given the surplus and many uncertainties still looming, families will feel Budget 2026’s tangible support: cash Cost‑of‑Living Special Payments, enhanced U‑Save rebates, and CDC Vouchers for all households in January 2027. These measures cushion near‑term pressures while structural changes mature but ultimately, confidence comes when a worker sees three things clearly:
a. If I learn, there is a job at the end.
b. If my role changes, there is fair process and early help.
c. If I work longer, the work is sustainable and my retirement is secure.
Our task is to translate policy into predictable pathways at the firm and worker level through initiatives like the CTCs, the new jobs–skills agency, and tripartite norms that protect both adaptability and well‑being.
Call to Action
Mr Speaker, behind every statistic is a worker who wants to provide for family, stay self‑reliant, and contribute with dignity.
Workers are not stop-gaps, they are partners in transformation and productivity.
When we invest in their skills, support them responsibly through change, and give them time and space to adapt, workers repay that trust with commitment and employers benefit from a qualified workforce that will boost productivity and bring about growth.
This Budget sets direction. But direction must become delivery. And delivery depends on all of us.
Let us Government, employers, unions, and every worker move decisively together.
Build the new jobs and skills backbone so every Singaporean can see a pathway forward.
Let us redesign work so that transformation uplifts, not exhausts.
Let us strengthen fairness and security, from early retrenchment notifications to clearer contract‑to‑permanency pathways.
And let us ensure retirement adequacy, especially for those whose careers have been disrupted.
Mr Speaker, the future of work must not be something workers endure; it must be something they can look forward to having that assurance that the future will be better.
Notwithstanding my thoughts, with that I support the Budget 2026.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
