Speech by NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng at NTUC Career Festival on 13 February 2026

NTUC President Sister K. Thanaletchimi,

MOE Senior Parliamentary Secretary (SPS) Dr Syed Harun,

NTUC Central Committee Members,

Tripartite partners, brothers and sisters, distinguished guests,

INTRODUCTION

A very good morning and a happy lunar new year!

It is wonderful to see all of you here this morning. As I was interacting with some of the partners at the breakfast booth, I heard that we will be off to a galloping start of a new year, at least in the micro-electronics arena where we think that 2026 will be a better year, even better than 2025.

May our Career Festival also bring new joy to both our workers and employers alike. This is the second year that we are organising the NTUC Career Festival, and your presence here today reflects something important. That we are thinking about the future of work, especially in an AI-powered world – how we can seize opportunities and embrace technology, and bring us to a higher plane in the economy and a better life for our workers.

But even as we speak now, job insecurities among our workers, including PMEs, have heightened.

ACKNOWLEDGING WORKERS’ ANXIETY OVER JOB SECURITY IN AN AI-POWERED FUTURE

In NTUC’s Survey on Economic Sentiments conducted late last year, about one in five respondents said job security is their top concern. And this is within an economy that grew at five per cent.

Workers shared with us that besides economic downturns and business closures, the key reasons for job insecurity stemmed from AI, automation and fear of skills obsolescence.

I have operated enough on the ground to know that these concerns are very real.

1. Across the world, not just in Singapore, we see rapid advances in AI, especially the frontier agentic AI types – deployed to autonomous vehicles, intelligent systems and increasingly, self-learning and performing complex human-like tasks. Not completely pervasive yet, but the potential is there.

    

2. Global companies, the tech companies, are restructuring because of AI. For instance, news articles such as Amazon that has recently announced another 16,000 corporate job cuts worldwide – this signals another wave of workforce disruptions¹ and (therefore) heightens the anxiety.

Here in Singapore, our union leaders and business partners tell us similar stories:

1. Fresh graduates are anxious. Maybe that is why SPS (MOE) is also here. As AI disrupts entry-level roles, PMEs, middle-career, especially the senior PMEs, they feel that AI is a competitor rather than a co-worker. And many worry they might be replaced.

    

2. In Australia, one of the most egregious stories that I’ve heard come from a Commonwealth Bank. The bank rightly wants to deploy AI, but what they did was to get a PME to train the AI machine and, guess what – when the AI system was ready, she was retrenched².

    

3. I embrace technology but I am sure our sisters and brothers do not agree with the process. We must find win-win situations where both the businesses can benefit from AI, and fellow workers can make a better living. This planning is what we stand for in NTUC, (planning) together with many of the employers and partners here.

At the same time, we know many good businesses, especially SMEs, tell us they want to adopt AI and technologies but face cost pressures and capability constraints.

They understand transformation is necessary but worry about whether they can keep up especially when the economy, in their words, is so uncertain.

So, both workers and businesses face real challenges.

And I think that is exactly why NTUC must step up and step in, to ensure that Singapore’s transition into an AI-enabled economy is fair, inclusive and sustainable for all. And after the Prime Minister’s Budget for 2026 was announced yesterday, NTUC is wholeheartedly behind the Government's thrust to ensure that Singapore is AI-enabled, AI-ready, both for the businesses and for the workers. I think it is a good Budget.

That importantly, brings me to my next point – what can NTUC do together with employers and workers.

LAUNCH OF AI-READY SG

We understand that workers today, especially PMEs, are facing mounting pressures in this period of significant disruption.

They want to embrace AI but honestly, many may not know where to begin, or whether they can keep pace.

That is why today we are launching the NTUC AI-Ready SG initiative.

We are launching the NTUC SG AI-Ready initiative as a commitment to walk alongside our workers, support them through the change, and ensure a fair and just transition for them in an AI-powered future.

Let me share in detail why, and how the AI-Ready SG supports workers and addresses job security concerns.

The AI-Ready SG will be a one-stop shop, one-stop platform that aims to:

1. Equip workers with the skills they need; especially in AI, that they need;

    

2. Support companies’ business transformation and job redesign;

    

3. And very importantly, improve job matching so that workers can access better opportunities.

EQUIPPING WORKERS WITH THE SKILLS TO BE AI-READY

First, on training.

We must empower workers to use AI confidently and meaningfully.

NTUC LearningHub will offer curated AI skills pathways tailored to different learning needs.

To make the AI tools more accessible, NTUC will also provide funding support to help members defray up to 50 per cent of subscription cost for eligible AI tools. For a period of time. We cannot quite afford what was announced in the Budget where there is six-month free access, but NTUC will also put our resources to help workers with 50 per cent of the cost of training. More details will be announced later.

Let me assure you, we are also taking bold initiatives. This is a first-of-its-kind subsidy for members, targeted to assure and to enable workers in this current period of anxiety.

SUPPORTING BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION AND JOB REDESIGN

Second, on business transformation.

Workers can only benefit when companies transform with them. We know that workers in our ecosystem can only be on a sustainable trajectory – better lives and better livelihoods – when businesses succeed as well. We always pine for win-win outcomes, and we will continue to aim for win-win outcomes. NTUC will step in to help businesses with transformation.

This is why we will strengthen our Company Training Committee (CTC) efforts, with grants to support business transformation, including AI adoption.

Let me share an example with you,

1. I just happened to visit a company this week, and it is called SIN Assurance. They are a local accounting SME – not very big with about 15 to 20 professionals. They shared with me that while AI presents great opportunities for them to enhance productivity, the upfront costs of implementation was really daunting for them.

    

2. And I know that they are not alone. Many SMEs feel the same.

    

   That is why NTUC designed a comprehensive user journey for companies:

    

3. We have partnered AI Singapore to white-label the AI Readiness Index (AIRI), a free tool for employers to assess a company’s AI maturity.

    

4. Employers can cross-reference this to the AI Transformation Blueprint that is developed in-house by NTUC.

    

5. They can also refer to sectoral AI playbooks developed in partnership with industry experts and trade associations for practical guidance.

    

6. And when ready, very importantly, they can tap on the CTC Grant to implement their AI strategies, together with NTUC.

    

   This is a positive story where NTUC came in with Operations-Technology Roadmapping to help a very stretched business to employ technologies for their business efficiencies and business outcomes. And it’s not just accountants that we are talking about. The CTC initiative has helped industries, from egg farming – where we help with egg sorting, egg counting to have effectiveness, to the semi-conductors industries, and now, to the professional class, the PMEs, and maybe in the future, doctors.

    

   As of December 2025, NTUC approved more than 800 CTC Grant projects, benefitting around 13,000 workers including PMEs with wage increases, skill allowances and structured career pathways.

    

   And very importantly, these AI-related CTC Grant projects have been growing, and last year, more than doubled as compared to 2024. This is a clear signal that companies welcome this initiative, and are gearing up for transformation. It only portends a better outcome in an AI-powered economy. When businesses transform and succeed in their businesses, NTUC will be alongside you; and we will continue to champion for a fair transition for our workers and improve their livelihood.

    

   Transformation is a journey, and NTUC intends to walk alongside with all of you – with partners, with businesses, and with workers so that all of you can keep pace with this change that is happening dramatically and with double quick pace.

    

   IMPROVING JOB MATCHING SO WORKERS CAN ACCESS BETTER OPPORTUNITIES

    

   Third, we want to improve job matching so that workers can access better job opportunities. Many workers, especially our young PMEs, remain anxious about AI. They worry that AI will replace their jobs instead of supporting them. And these fears, I know, are real on the ground.

    

   Even with the right training for their first or second job, the pace of AI change can outstrip anyone. If we do not move together, our workers may feel that they are left behind.

    

   And again, I emphasise this is why NTUC is stepping forward.

    

7. Through our new NTUC LearningHub Career Mentorship Programme, we will enhance career development support for workers.

    

8. This programme connects PMEs with certified and experienced mentors who will provide personalised support to help workers navigate transitions through an AI-powered economy.

At the same time, we will continue working closely with the Government, employers and tripartite partners to strengthen the link between education and jobs, so that our youth can be trained for jobs in an AI-powered future.

We must prepare our youth not only for their first job, but for the long journey of growth in an AI-driven world that they will live in.

To support our youth, NTUC’s e2i will be signing Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) today. This will enhance career readiness and help fresh graduates understand the real demands of an AI-enabled workplace so they can transition smoothly from campus to career.

In the same vein, NTUC’s e2i will also sign an MOU with Yayasan Mendaki to strengthen AI-readiness and expand access to employability support and skills development for the Malay/Muslim community.

However we all know that training workers alone is not enough. Transforming companies alone is not enough either. Worker upskilling and business transformation must move hand-in-hand. We must bridge the two so that trained workers can access good, meaningful jobs of the future, with the best outcome for all.

NTUC’s goal is a simple one – Better Workers, Better Jobs, Better Matching.

If you cannot remember the rest of my speech, all our efforts will go towards creating Better Workers in an AI world, Better Jobs for them, and Better job Matching to benefit all Singaporeans. And in that process, we will partner employers for your success too.

This, essentially, is what AI-Ready SG aims to be. We hope that we will offer practical support to the workers, so that they can feel confident in an AI world – reduce their anxieties, start embracing AI and upskill towards a level of competency that will anchor Singapore well in ASEAN and in the world.

With AI, it will allow and afford us, as an economy, to bridge our constraints of geography and ageing demographics to go to the next level of possibilities in economic performance and relevance to the world. And for the next 60 years of our nationhood, forge a stronger Singapore with better lives and livelihoods for Singaporeans. I am confident of that.

If you scan the world, our tripartism in Singapore is truly unique. I am so encouraged that three-quarters of us seated here are employers. I am so encouraged that there are so many of us in red (tee) on the ground, each and every day, championing workers’ interests and having the dedication to work 24/7 to uplift workers from the lowest levels of earnings, to PMEs.

And if you look at the Prime Minister’s Budget yesterday, NTUC has been championing workers’ interests consistently throughout, whether it was through the Progressive Wage Model to uplift the lower-wage so that the Gini coefficient can be balanced; to now, also championing for frontier-moving, restructuring of our economy. NTUC will be there with all of you.

CLOSING

NTUC will continue, hopefully, to be the national institution that is trusted by the working people, including the new working class (PMEs) and continue the journey with employers, with value-added possibilities in your business, not just in labour but business modelling. If we can continue on that journey, the AI-Ready SG initiative will be a success.

And most importantly, we will be able to move and implement towards an AI- enabled Singapore economy. When we get there in three years, five years, whatever the time frame may be, we will know that Singapore will continue to have a bright future economically for all of us Singaporeans – Better Wages, Better Welfare and of course, a Better Life!

Thank you very much!