Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are crucial to Singapore's economy, representing 99% of all enterprises and employing 71% of the workforce. The Pulse of SMEs explores Singapore’s workforce landscape with a focus on SME employees’ career needs, aspirations, and challenges. It identifies where SMEs are facing difficulties or making strides in upskilling, motivating, and retaining talent. The study adopts a strengths-based perspective and applies archetypal analysis, segmenting organisations into four archetypes based on company types, employee size, and self-reported perception of their organisational growth.

Human capital is one of the most important resources in Singapore’s strategic economic plan. Accordingly, to drive higher productivity and economic growth, Singapore must support the health, resilience, and well-being of workers. This mixed-methods approach study investigates the well-being of workers in Singapore and seeks to understand the factors affecting worker well-being to provide appropriate support.

Freelancers & Self-Employed (FSE) professionals represent a growing yet underserved and understudied segment of the workforce. This study adopts a holistic, cross-industry approach to surface "Jobs-to-be-Done" (JTBD) to support FSEs in their pursuit of career growth progression. Our findings reveal opportunities for NTUC and the Labour Movement in Singapore to shape services and policies that address shared pain points beyond predefined worker categories.

In this edition of the Singapore Labour Research Digest, we explore how workers with caregiving responsibilities, especially women can be better supported, in sustaining and developing their careers through Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs).

In this edition of the Singapore Labour Research Digest, published by the NTUC Strategy Team, we explore a research study on Freelancers and Self-Employed Persons (FSEs) in Singapore. FSEs represent a growing yet underserved and understudied segment of the workforce.

The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) conducted the Survey on Economic Sentiments ahead of Budget 2025 to understand the concerns and aspirations of the local workforce. With responses from 2,088 Singapore residents, the survey provides valuable insights into key areas affecting workers today.

In this edition of the Singapore Labour Research Digest, we explore how tripartite collaboration turned a workforce crisis into a showcase of resilience and adaptability, and how NTUC’s SMART Strategy Model serves as a blueprint for building a future-ready workforce.

In this edition of the Singapore Labour Research Digest, we identify the different types of Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs), principles to achieve win-win benefits for employers and employees, and recommendations for implementing FWAs.

In this edition of the Singapore Labour Research Digest, we showcase the recently launched NTUC Labour Alliance co-LaB (LAB) at the 5th Labour Research Conference held in September 2024. We also highlight findings from our research in professionalising the skilled trades, showcasing learnings from overseas, youth perceptions, and suggesting strategies to establish a strong local core of skilled tradespeople in Singapore.

In this edition of the Singapore Labour Research Digest, we uncover how challenges could impact the opportunities available for workers in the manufacturing sector. We also suggest how workers can navigate the opportunities and risks by securing the necessary skills to create strategic advantages in the sector.