NTUC Strengthens Support for PMEs

• NTUC’s new initiative, the Company Mentorship Circle, aims to support PMEs and companies through career mentoring and guidance.
• In 2024, NTUC’s e2i doubled PME job placements as they sought career support amid growing concerns and anxieties about job security.
  
  

The National Trades Congress Union (NTUC) reaffirmed its commitment to enhancing job security for workers, including Professionals, Managers, and Executives (PMEs), amid Singaporeans’ concerns over their jobs and careers. At a media session today, NTUC Secretary-General (SG) Ng Chee Meng shared NTUC’s initiatives to enhance workers’ job security and career development opportunities ahead of the Budget Statement, which will be delivered on 18 February 2025. SG Ng also spoke about the Company Mentorship Circle (CMC), a new pilot initiative designed to provide workers with mentorship and guidance on career progression, while also helping companies in developing their workforce.

Job Security is a Concern for All Workers, Including PMEs

SG Ng highlighted the urgent need to enhance the job security of workers, including PMEs. He said, “Our workers are worried about job security. NTUC will continue to do our part to scale up efforts and work closely with our tripartite partners to enhance workers’ employability and improve job security. Ultimately, we need a strong economy and thriving businesses so our workers can benefit from the success. We look forward to working with our tripartite partners to support the Government’s growth strategy and ensure our workers thrive at every stage of their careers.”

SG Ng also shared that the Singapore workforce and firms would face challenges ahead. According to NTUC's Survey on Economic Sentiments 2025, 34 per cent of workers expressed concerns about job security in the next three months¹. Meanwhile, a World Economic Forum (WEF) report indicated that 70 per cent of Singapore's workforce would need to undergo upskilling or reskilling by 2030². The same report also found six in 10 Singapore firms identified skills gaps as barriers to their business transformation efforts³. These findings highlight the need to support workers, including PMEs who comprise 45 per cent of NTUC’s membership base⁴, through uncertainties to enhance their job security.

NTUC Doing its Part in Enhancing Job Security for Workers

New NTUC Company Mentorship Circle Initiative to Drive Career Progression

At the media session, SG Ng announced the Company Mentorship Circle (CMC), a pilot initiative to enhance workers’ career progression. NTUC and its affiliated unions will partner with and connect unionised companies with the 1,200 mentors and experienced industry leaders in the NTUC Mentors Network, who will provide skills and career guidance to workers in these companies. The CMC will also help strengthen a workplace culture of continuous learning and development for workers. More information about the CMC initiative will be announced in due course.

The CMC augments the current NTUC Executive Mentorship Programme, which has benefited over 146 mentees over three pilot runs. The next run of the programme, from March to May 2025, will provide structured guidance to help over 250 PME mentees pivot into new roles and industries, with a particular focus on emerging sectors like artificial intelligence. Together with the new CMC initiative, these efforts aim to provide holistic support for PMEs as they navigate their career journeys. To date, NTUC has a base of 1,200 mentors to support various mentorship programmes.

Enhancing Job Security through Innovation and Partnerships

To address the challenges ahead, NTUC is taking proactive steps to strengthen its digital innovation and develop tools to enhance workers’ employability and job security, including PMEs. NTUC is also working with companies to transform their businesses and improve their productivity, ensuring that workers can benefit from their successes through better wages, welfare and work prospects. Some examples include the Company Training Committee (CTC) Grant that has benefited more than 7,400 workers with real wage increases, structured career pathways through the Career Development Plan, and skills allowances, as well as the recently announced Virtual Career Coach (VCC)⁵ to enhance NTUC’s e2i’s career advisory and job matching services. Since its launch in August 2024, over 3,500 jobseekers have benefitted from the VCC.

In 2024, NTUC’s e2i successfully placed over 29,000 jobseekers⁶. With scaled-up efforts to support PMEs and the expansion of NTUC’s e2i’s career and job services network across 27 centres in Singapore, job placements for PMEs – including skilled Technicians – rose from 8,800 to 17,000 between 2023 and 2024. The percentage of PME jobseekers approaching NTUC’s e2i between Q4 2023 and Q4 2024 has also increased from 45 per cent to 61 per cent.

Continued Partnership with Tripartite Partners to Improve Job Security

For over six decades, NTUC and our unions and associations have championed workers’ interests, ensuring that workers’ concerns are heard. Working closely with tripartite partners—the Government and employers—NTUC helps to bridge the gap between the workforce’s needs and the labour market’s demands. These initiatives include the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme, Platform Workers Act, Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests, and Workplace Fairness Legislation.

The tripartite partnership is crucial in tackling issues such as job security, upskilling, workers’ well-being, and fair wages while addressing broader social challenges, such as caregiving responsibilities amid an ageing population, better support for lower-wage workers, and the need for better access to job opportunities for PMEs. Together with our tripartite partners, we empower our workers and ensure they are well-supported and remain resilient in their career journeys.