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Thank you for joining us today. It looks like we have a record crowd today and I heard that we have added more chairs to accommodate all of you.
I'm really happy that we can have a face-to-face event after a stoppage of two years due to Covid-19, so I hope that this LIT DISCOvery will be a very useful tool for all our young friends coming in from the schools. While NTUC has always emphasised engagement with the youths – it's been 20 years since we started with Young NTUC and subsequently NEBO, to be able to engage the youths and be of use to youths but in recent times, after a review, we think we can do more for you. That's why this afternoon, it will be an important launch of the NTUC Youth Taskforce.
You see, in the last two years or so, in the midst of Covid-19, NTUC underwent soul searching to see how NTUC can innovate to answer to the needs of the different segments of the working people in Singapore.
For the senior workers, we heard their anxieties and we worked very hard with the leadership of NTC Deputy Secretary-General Heng Chee How to see how we can extend the working runway for our senior workers. This year, we extended the retirement age by one year to 63 and re-employment age to 68. Hopefully, in the next eight years – economic conditions permitting – we want to extend the retirement age to 65 and re-employment age to 70.
In the meantime, restoring some CPF contributions so that our workers – the older ones – can attain retirement adequacy. For the lower wage workers, NTUC has pushed very hard for progressive wage of many of our workers. We were succeeding with three sectors in the initial years.
But in the last two years, thankfully with the support of our employer partners, the government agencies and leaders that are present here today, we are now moving progressive wages for up to a quarter million of our lower wage workers across different industries, making a real impact to them.
So, we have helped the senior workers, we have helped the lower-wage workers and we are in the midst of working with employers and the government now to see how we can also outreach to the vulnerable freelancers – delivery riders, Grab drivers and taxi drivers who may have had a slower start in life.
Then, it comes to our mind, how can we do better than what we have in the last 20 years, for the young people that are amongst us today?
So, late last year, we decided to do a survey and have some focus groups. We had about 1,000 young people like you and we discovered that indeed, NTUC can do better and we will do better because you have articulated some anxieties when we engaged you. For most, in the tumultuous world and in the cocoon of the education system, now transiting into the workplace, we heard that many of the young have anxieties about what the career possibilities are for you.
Given all the different changes in the world today, what would give you some assurance about finances. Given the increases of the cost of living, the third concern that was expressed to Young NTUC and all of us was that the youths needed some assistance or somebody alongside to be able to assure them so that their mental wellness can be better placed as they transit into the workforce.
Well, we heard all of you, with this initial survey but we think that we want to broaden the engagements, to understand your needs and your aspirations even better.
So today, I'm very glad we have Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong here to help us launch the NTUC Youth Taskforce – a series of engagements,
hopefully to outreach to more than 10,000 of the young in Singapore.
It is a major effort to be undertaken by Young NTUC and we want to be there for you to understand your needs, your aspirations, your challenges and importantly, to co-create with you on the future that you design.
So, if you put all these things together, what NTUC is essentially doing – from the older workers all the way to the young in this room – we want to refresh our workers compact with the working class in Singapore, just like what Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong is doing at a larger scale of a social compact refreshing for Singaporeans.
Well, we have already started some of the work. We have we already made inroads together with our government agencies like the Ministry of Education (MOE) to come into the schools so that we can engage you. For the students who are in the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), whether you are in university, whether you are in the polytechnic or in the Institute of Technical Education, Young NTUC will do focus groups with all of you so that we can learn more.
But beyond the schools, we also want to outreach to the young that have already transited into the workforce – non-traditional areas of studying or in career like the arts or the sports or if you are a freelancer, we want to engage you as well.
And for those who are less conscious about being studious like me when I was young, we want to see how we can partner you as you desire a better career possibility through NTUC.
So, it is quite exciting and I welcome all of you. I want to call all of you to action in conjunction with NTUC so that we can co-create our future together.
So for all the youths out here – Wendy can you stand up, please?
This is Ms Wendy Tan. Please recognise her face.
She will be the face of the Youth Taskforce for the next 12 months, so if anything, when you walk around, please do shake her hand and get her contact details so that we can engage you meaningfully.
NTUC sincerely means this – we want to do better for you but we need to understand your aspirations and challenges but very, very importantly I would like to invite all of you to join us so that we can co-create what you desire when you enter the workforce.
With that welcoming address, I want to thank Deputy Prime Minister for spending his Saturday morning with us to launch the Youth Taskforce for us. Let us now welcome Deputy Prime Minister on stage for his opening address.
Thank you.
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