Notice to Government for Grab Holdings' Recent Decision to Cut 1,000 Jobs

Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for Manpower (a) when did the Ministry became aware of Grab Holdings’ decision to cut 1,000 jobs or 11% of its workforce, given Grab Holdings’ statement in September 2022 that it had no plans to undertake mass layoffs; (b) what proportion of those jobs that are cut are held by Singaporean workers; and (c) whether the Ministry is engaging with Grab Holdings with a view to facilitate the transition of displaced workers into suitable jobs.

The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Mr Zaqy Mohamad) (for the Minister for Manpower): Mr Deputy Speaker, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) became aware of Grabtaxi Holdings’ decision to cut jobs on 20 June 2023. The Ministry has also received their Mandatory Retrenchment Notifications (MRNs) which were submitted within five working days after affected employees were notified of their retrenchment, as legally required under the Employment Act.

Based on the retrenchment notifications received by MOM, the workforce profile of Grabtaxi Holdings before and after the retrenchment exercise is largely similar.

Digital Industry Singapore (DISG) is working with the Taskforce for Responsible Retrenchment and Employment Facilitation, comprising representatives from MOM, Workforce Singapore (WSG), National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute (NTUC’s e2i), to facilitate a smooth transition of the affected staff. In particular, e2i is in touch with Grabtaxi Holdings and has offered career coaching services, employability workshops and other employment facilitation initiatives.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Saktiandi Supaat.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I would like to thank the Senior Minister of State for his answers. I would like to ask him again in relation to the Parliamentary Question that I had, part (b), I alluded to the fact that the proportion of those jobs that are cut, how much of them are held by Singaporean workers. I think the Senior Minister of State mentioned that the proportion is the same before and after the layoff. Can the Senior Minister of State share a bit more about the proportion of those job lost by Singaporean workers?

My second question is a bit broad – Grab's decision to conduct a layoff is an indication of more widespread trouble lurking in the tech sector. Can I ask the Senior Minister of State what processes are there in MOM to mitigate the risks from this going forward? Also, what are the forward-looking processes that MOM intends to take going forward as well?

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: I thank Mr Saktiandi for his question. Mr Deputy Speaker, with regard to the proportion, in general, we do not share details submitted in the MRN for any other purposes apart from employment facilitation. That is to be fair to the firms. But I also alluded to it in my answer that the profiles before and after are the same. So, if you work backwards, proportionally, whether it is Singaporeans or other profiles, they remain largely the same. So, basically, there is no one group that was affected more than the other. So, therefore, they came up with similar profiles before and after.

To the Member's question as well, overall, whether we think there is softness in the sector, if you look at the recent report in March 2023, the number of job vacancies in the infocomm sector remains high at about 8,100 in March 2023. So, there is demand and I think beyond the sector, too, we have also found that tech skills are still going to be high in demand even in non-tech firms. So, tech skills are pretty much in demand.

But as a whole, just to put things into context as well, we are at a very low unemployment rate in the sense that we are at 1.8% unemployment. That is almost full employment. If you look at the data on long-term unemployment, it is 0.6%. To a large extent, we are at almost full employment.

Therefore, opportunities remain high in terms of a vibrant I&C market. But at the same time, we do have to also prepare for a slowdown that could come. So, I would just say that we are cautiously optimistic about long-term prospects for the I&C sector. But at the same time, there is demand even beyond the sector for tech skills.

As a whole, what MOM is doing is, as I have shared, we are working closely with WSG, e2i. What is key is to ensure that employees being laid off are given opportunities, career counselling and facilitated to get back into a job as soon as possible. That is most critical for us, especially to ride on the current demand and vacancies within the I&C sector as well as the broader economic requirements.