SINGAPORE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

The Acting Minister for Manpower (Dr Ng Eng Hen): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

This Bill seeks to establish the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA).

Importance of workforce competitiveness

In February this year, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced in his Budget Statement that the Government would set up a statutory board under the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to promote continuing education and training (CET) for workers. This was in response to a recommendation by the Economic Review Committee that the Government form a CET body to help Singaporeans cope with economic restructuring through training and skills upgrading.

Structural unemployment takes place when segments of the workforce are not able to acquire the suitable skills required for the new types of jobs created. The pace of skills upgrading of our workforce must keep up with rapid changes in the business environment. If industries cannot find the right type of skilled worker they need, they will not come here. And even if they do invest here, Singaporeans without the necessary skills will remain unemployable. Therefore, the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) has a key role in ensuring that Singaporeans continually upgrade or develop new skills to stay employable.

Following the Budget Statement, we undertook to establish this new agency within 6 to 9 months from end-February. We understood the urgency of this task. I am pleased to report to Members that we are ready to launch WDA in mid-September, within 61/2 months. My Ministry's efforts to establish this new agency have culminated in this WDA Bill, the various clauses of which I will elaborate on later.

Sir, the Government started on this journey to promote lifelong learning and workforce development as far back as 1979, when the Skills Development Fund (SDF) was established. The SDF was the first training initiative to be driven at the national level. Several other national-level initiatives such as the Skills Redevelopment Programme, National Skills Recognition System and Strategic Manpower Conversion Programmes, were subsequently put in place. More recently, two years ago, this House passed a Bill to establish a Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund (LLF). Let me elaborate a bit on the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund.

The LLF was launched with an initial contribution of $500 million from Government in March 2001, and topped up twice since then, to reach the current size of $1.5 billion. The setting up of the LLF reflects Government's commitment to promote lifelong learning by our workforce. The Government aims to set aside $5 billion eventually to create a secure and steady stream of income to help workers upgrade and retrain. The LLF has enabled MOM to implement new programmes and initiatives to complement those under the Skills Development Fund as well as manpower development plans spearheaded by other economic agencies. The Workforce Development Agency will manage both the Skills Development Fund (SDF) and Lifelong Learning Fund (LLF). WDA - Jobs for Singaporeans

Sir, we have spoken much during these past few months about the challenges of globalisation. We will meet these challenges head-on. We cannot rely on artificial barriers to protect our jobs. We must upgrade and give investors an incentive to locate and stay here because of a highly trained workforce. The establishment of WDA signals Government's strong commitment to help Singaporeans stay employable and maintain our lead with a disciplined and technically competent workforce.

To achieve this, WDA will lead, champion and drive adult education and training in Singapore. It will be the champion for workforce development. It will build upon current CET capabilities and develop new ones to support and strengthen workforce competitiveness. It will coordinate, consolidate and rationalise existing manpower development efforts for the adult workforce carried out by various Government agencies, for greater effectiveness. WDA will also sharpen the nexus between industry and the Singapore worker so that plans to train and develop a skilled workforce for industry are coordinated with plans to develop and grow that industry. As a statutory board, the Workforce Development Agency will have a clear mandate as well as operational autonomy and flexibility in championing workforce development. This enables WDA to be nimble and interface with industry effectively, and thus be able to respond to industry's needs in a more timely and flexible manner.

The mission of the Workforce Development Agency is completely pro-Singaporean. Jobs for Singaporeans is the mantra. The WDA will reach out to all workers, rank and file, as well as professionals and executives, employed or looking for jobs. It will help those who want to work to find meaningful jobs, and those who are already working to become or stay more employable. WDA will seek through CET programmes to equip our workforce with key employability skills so that workers can adapt and respond to volatility in the labour market as well as demands of new jobs. This desired outcome is captured in the vision of the Workforce Development Agency, which is to build a resilient, skilled and agile workforce.

Key thrusts and strategies

Let me now touch on the key thrusts to WDA's programmes and plans.

Firstly, WDA will ensure that training is relevant to the job in the company. Put simply, we do not want to train for training's sake. We train and develop skill sets so that Singaporeans can find new jobs or stay employed. Members had spoken on the need to strengthen this connection between training and industry needs during the Committee of Supply in March this year. WDA will do this systematically by identifying current skills gaps as well as future skills needs at industry level. We will work closely with leaders in industry and training providers to make sure that training programmes meet correct needs. Training must be more industry-oriented and market-driven. The outcome must be greater employability for the Singaporean worker and greater value to the company.

To implement this effectively, the Workforce Development Agency must build partnerships with industry players and other economic agencies. Work has already begun. Over the past few months, my Ministry has engaged key leaders in various industry sectors with available jobs. As a result, WDA will be able to launch these Industry Manpower Development Partnerships in the process industry, precision engineering and infocomm sectors, over the next few months. These partnerships will help WDA to identify where jobs are available and what skills employers are looking for. We will place retrenched workers into these jobs and train them with the skills they need. This approach is currently being adopted to place job seekers in the precision engineering industry where there are 700 jobs available.

WDA will also work very closely with the economic agencies such as EDB, to ensure workers are trained for the jobs generated by new investments. WDA will work with other agencies to redesign jobs so that Singaporeans will find such jobs more attractive to take up. We are currently collaborating with the National Environment Agency to seek out opportunities in the environmental sector.

Secondly, WDA will strengthen the CET training infrastructure. We must teach in a way that enables adults to learn better and quicker. During the Committee of Supply, Members spoke about this need to enhance adult training methods and curriculum. We must understand better how adults learn. Only then can we teach them correctly and effectively. Therefore, WDA will develop professional expertise in pedagogy and curriculum development for adult learning, and skills certification. A Member also stressed the importance of regulating the quality of the CET industry. We agree. WDA will establish standards for the training industry to ensure that publicly funded workforce training programmes will be useful, effective and industry-relevant. Workforce training should also fit within a broader skills framework defining clear competencies at individual, industry and job levels. Such a framework should have clearly defined skills standards and established skills upgrading roadmaps. This will help workers to plan their skills upgrading throughout their career within an industry or across industries. In line with this objective, the National Skills Centre currently under SPRING, which manages the National Skills Recognition System, will come under WDA.

The agency will also be working closely with training providers and industry players to promote holistic development of CET infrastructure in individual industries. The Agency will work with industry to develop comprehensive vertically integrated infrastructure to provide industry-specific training from entry into management level. This includes new industry-based training infrastructure, for instance, specialty academies such as the Retail Academy to provide specialised training.

The third thrust of WDA is to help retrenched Singaporeans find jobs. This Agency and its partners will provide a more customised support to unemployed workers who want to transit back to the labour force. With job displacements or disruptive employment being key features in our employment market, there will be greater demand for more job information and placement assistance. WDA will build up a stronger capability to disseminate in a systematic and timely manner, relevant labour market information to job seekers. It will also strengthen the capabilities of the centres in the Distributed CareerLink Network, run by the CDCs, NTUC and the self-help groups that provide career coaching, job placement and training assistance. During the Committee of Supply, a Member suggested that more attention be paid to career counselling. I agree. I am pleased to report that WDA will develop a more professional career counselling service to serve job seekers that need professional guidance and more hand-holding in their job search.

We all recognise that ultimately, whether we have enough jobs depends substantially on new investments and new business demands. But, employment also depends on the willingness of workers to compete for jobs at market wages. At the individual level, it remains the personal responsibility of the job seeker to get and keep his job. But by helping our workforce upgrade their skills, both hard and soft skills, by searching out employment opportunities from current business needs and new investments, and helping job seekers to more effectively find and secure the right jobs, the Workforce Development Agency can help workers stay more employable.

Value to stakeholders

What will be our value to our stakeholders? To employers and businesses, this Agency will be their partner to identify skills needs, support the training of workers, and establish human resource systems to build a workforce that can sharpen their competitive edge.

To job seekers, WDA will develop more customised support and a broader range of assistance schemes to help them get jobs. Those who are willing to adapt and adjust to the realities of the job market will find jobs. They can approach a network of dedicated CareerLink centres that provide more timely information on the labour market, such as where the job openings are, the type of skills required and the remuneration for the jobs. This Agency will work with the CareerLink centres to proactively seek out employment opportunities for job seekers and help them overcome skills and other barriers to get back to work. WDA will develop targeted Place and Train programmes in partnership with employers to help job seekers acquire the skills needed to take up new jobs.

For the employed, the Workforce Development Agency will work with employers to strengthen in-employment training so that workers can retrain and re-skill to do better in their current jobs, and to serve the fast changing needs of businesses. This helps the workforce to stay employable and competitive. To training providers and institutions of higher learning, the Workforce Development Agency will help to develop greater knowledge on how adults learn, so that curriculum can be better designed to be accessible and effective for the working adult. WDA will be their partner in strengthening the nexus between training institutions and industries, which is critical to the development of continuing education and training.

Leadership

Given the challenges that I have set out for the Workforce Development Agency, we will all agree that we need a strong management team to lead the group of 240-odd WDA staff. I have therefore asked my Permanent Secretary, Ms Yong Ying-I, to be the Chairman of the Workforce Development Agency. My Deputy Secretary, Mr Leo Yip, will be the Chief Executive for the Workforce Development Agency. I have also appointed a Board of Directors from the public and private sectors. The Board members have rich and diverse backgrounds in industry, union and workforce development. I am confident they will provide a strong stewardship to the running of WDA, as well as facilitate the networking with its partners. Among the Board of Directors are two Members of this House, Mayor Teo Ho Pin, who will represent the Mayors of the CDCs and Mdm Halimah Yacob who will represent NTUC.

WDA BILL

Let me now turn to the Bill itself. Part I and Part II propose to establish and incorporate the Workforce Development Agency as a statutory board under the purview of MOM and provide for the appointments of Chairman, Deputy Chairman and members of the Agency by the Minister. Part III sets out the functions and duties of the Agency and powers by the Minister to give directions and the Agency to form committees.

Part IV and Part V cater for standard provisions relating to staff and finance, including the appointment of Chief Executive and the investment powers of the Agency. Part VI, read in relation to the First Schedule, provides for the transfer of property, assets, liabilities and employees from some of the existing departments under MOM and SPRING to WDA, as well as the transfer of policy oversight and administration power over the Lifelong Learning Fund and the Skills Development Fund to WDA. Part VII grants the Agency power to enforce against offences and to make regulations with the approval of the Minister.

Conclusion

The setting up of the Workforce Development Agency marks a significant milestone in our continuing efforts to strengthen workforce development. As a small country with no natural resources, human capital is our only asset. A competitive workforce is key to Singapore's continued growth and prosperity. All of us recognise the strong economic competition Singapore faces but there is no need for our workers to lose heart. Singapore still has a competitive edge. Our world-class infrastructures, investments in the education of citizens, a hardworking and highly organised workforce, are reasons that will continue to swing investors in our favour.

In the same way where the entire nation rallied behind the Government to fight against SARS, the Workforce Development Agency will require the same support and cooperation of workers, employers and strategic partners to tackle workforce competitiveness challenges head-on. Together, we can renew heightened hope to our workforce, to help them stay employable and even more competitive.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang (Aljunied): Mr Speaker, Sir, recently, when I made visits to workplaces, a union leader remarked to me that it is increasingly difficult these days to get a happy conversation going about jobs. There is truth in the comment.

In the past, downturns were often cyclical. Today, the changes are more structural. Product lines become outmoded quickly. Competitors move into lower cost countries to sharpen their competitive edge. Workers are replaced by technology or displaced as a result of factory relocation. These structural changes are long term.

The new, harsh economic realities, which globalisation has driven, will continue to change our socio-economic environment. We have to adapt and live with it. In view of the situation we are in, we must continue to be vigilant and be nimble to react to the changes. But we must not be incapacitated by the bad news.

Whilst it is perfectly normal to express insecurity over the job, a positive outlook in the midst of these bad time situations will allow us to see the silver lining when it comes. Staying positive and possessing a willingness to work hard and accept responsibilities even in areas we have no experience in is a sure way to go.

Technology may have taken over the job. Companies may relocate to China, or India, where workers there do the same job for half the price. We have to face this reality squarely and react with a new mindset and a new willingness.

The key word is "mobility". In a tight labour market, the employee is seen to have greater power because he can move to another job, and get better pay. In a downturn, the power of the employee lies in his skills to perform. The skills they pick up help them to move on to other jobs. How much power he has depends on his skills level.

Therefore, the workers today have to constantly upgrade themselves to remain employable. If they have the skills that companies need for the future, they will be able to prolong their value worth.

Sir, the establishment of the Workforce Development Agency is timely. We expect WDA to be very focused on training that is directly relevant to getting and keeping jobs, to help and ensure Singaporeans remain employable. I am very happy that WDA will do more in developing training methods that are suitable for adult learning. Very often, we tend to use methodologies that are meant for the young and students. We have to consider the learning methodologies that the adults require. The Agency should devote more resources to find ways we can make our adult learning and training more effective.

The Workforce Development Agency should be open and responsive in providing labour market information. To help Singaporeans stay employable, the training has to be relevant and more responsive to the needs of labour market. I would like to know what is the plan of the Agency in this area. Are we able to effectively project job opportunities available in the short and medium term?

There is also concern of the employment situation of our polytechnic and university graduates. Could the Ministry enlighten us on how severe is the unemployment or under-employment situation of our fresh graduates today? What would WDA do to help them?

Sir, DPM Lee mentioned at the People's Association Conference that the Government is ready to do more and commit more resources to help the unemployed. It is to help needy Singaporeans get back on their feet. What would WDA do to better coordinate all the agencies, for example, CDCs and NGOs, that provide employment services in different locations? Is there any plan and how would the WDA further enhance the effectiveness of these agencies to help Singaporeans? Can MOM also confirm the re-employment rate of our unemployed? Does WDA have plans to help improve the chances of re-employment for the older workers?

There were also media reports that some training providers abuse the Government's support. Does WDA have any plan to ensure effectiveness of funding and respective Government schemes to help the unemployed?

Sir, the SARS outbreak drew the whole country closer and taught us several lessons in overcoming difficulties. Let us tackle the difficulties and challenges ahead with the same spirit as we tackled SARS. Our workforce has been ranked as the No. 1 workforce in the world. I am confident that we will continue to stand tall as a little red dot. Let us continue to move ahead with a positive spirit and strong tripartite collaboration in making our economy more competitive and worker-friendly. We have to mobilise every stakeholder to move together ahead. Employers need to redesign jobs to produce higher value-added jobs so as to compete in a globalised marketplace. The companies, as corporate citizens, should play a more active role.

Sir, I support the Bill.

Mr Ahmad Mohd Magad (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Mr Speaker, Sir, looking back over the past 38 years since our independence, Singapore has been able to successfully mould its national human resource policy to provide the needed skills for each phase of our development. Local training institutions progressively focus on technical skills development complemented by technology transfers, wherever necessary, from institutions of the more advanced countries. Foreign corporations locating their operations here were provided with subsidies and grants to set up training programmes which further propelled the growth of skills training.

Our country then swiftly moved into higher value-added manufacturing. Education reform that emphasises on technical and vocational education was buttressed by expanding our polytechnics in response to the demand created by the variety of industries set up here. Our universities too had to undergo transformation both in areas of curriculum as well as approach.

Today, as we are at the crossroads of charting our way to another phase of national development, efforts to make our country a leading knowledge-based economy will demand new learning and training approaches that expect workers to be innovative and creative. With unemployment expected to feature more prominently as we continue to restructure the economy, we need a more coordinated effort to help workers who are periodically displaced to get back on their feet and be absorbed back into the changing economic landscape as quickly as possible.

Sir, our past and current success in placing us at the forefront in an increasingly competitive world has been our ability to continually move up the education ladder and create and produce a qualified, skilful and creative people. To remain at the forefront, there is no other way but to sustain these efforts of improving the level of education and skills training for our citizens. This is the only way for us to keep abreast of and remain relevant in the changing world. As the world becomes increasingly borderless with knowledge, technology, talents and capital moving freely across regional boundaries, the need to develop the potential of people to the highest possible level has become even more urgent. This era rewards those who are in control of information with power and those who are the leading edge of technology with wealth. Those who have neither of the above are likely to be left behind. Considering that our people are our only resource, our future survivor solely depends on them. We must therefore develop this resource as best as we can. It is also the best approach to address the threat of digital divide which our society is increasingly being confronted with.

Sir, the International Labour Organisation in its General Conference Report of the 88th Session in the year 2000 quoted:

"A critical challenge that faces human society at the start of the 21st Century is to attain full employment and sustain economic growth in the global economy and also social inclusivity. As a country that holds the principle of meritocracy close to heart, education is a crucial vehicle for our social mobility and inclusivity." The phenomenon, with all its ramifications which I just mentioned, is universal. No country in the world is spared from it. More and more countries are now realising that lifelong learning is the key to pave the way for sustained employability of their citizens.

This is where I believe the formation of a one-stop agency, as proposed under this Bill, with a comprehensive range of human capital development services will be most apt to develop and unleash the full potential of every Singaporean. The amalgamation of functions, which are now scattered under various Ministries and administered by several statutory bodies, will provide the new agency with the means to coordinate and orchestrate worker education, skills training and skills redevelopment activities under one roof. It should facilitate the linkage of our workers to sources of expertise and assist them in the most efficient manner as to enable each of them to make informed choices of what is best for them to enhance their employability in an increasingly sophisticated economy.

Apart from placing worker interests as the focal point of the Workforce Development Agency's activities, I also envision that this newly created central body will lead in restructuring and harmonising our workforce, organising activities that create greater awareness of shifts and changes in our increasingly knowledge-based and technology-intensive economy, continually assisting our workforce in identifying sectors and job families which are relevant to Singapore's current and future economic needs, so that they can make informed decisions about career choices and impressing upon the workforce that innovation and value creation are the way ahead and that focusing on these will reap the best rewards for all of us.

Intertwined with all of these, Sir, is the subject of lifelong learning. I know much has been said on this subject in this House. But I believe it is worth reiterating this until its importance is ingrained in the minds of every one of us. In the current context where continuous changes and uncertainty prevail and represent the new normal, no country can ensure employment and a job for every one of its citizens. The smarter countries are rigorously promoting lifelong learning as one of their key agendas recognising that a highly educated and trained workforce leads to sustained employability of their workforce. It is a fact that countries with the highest incomes are also those whose workers are most educated.

To assist countries create a learning infrastructure, the International Labour Organisation introduced the learning chain to enable a workforce adapt both to the demands of a knowledge society and the need for an improved level and quality of employment. In it, the state will have to develop the individual's learning abilities by offering opportunities for learning and training that are tailored to target groups at different stages of their lives, young people and unemployed adults and workers who are at risk of seeing their skills overtaken by rapid change. This new approach includes three main components. These are the development of local learning centres, the promotion of new skills, in particular, in information technologies, and increased transparency of qualifications. This is where synergy of policies from our Ministries, such as the Ministries of Education, Manpower and Trade and Industry, if properly coordinated, could help produce a workforce that is informed and responsive to the changing needs of our economy. Such a multi-dimensional approach will also showcase our commitment that we, as a nation, are avid promoters of lifelong learning.

Sir, in a fast changing world, it does not take long for knowledge and skills to get outdated very quickly. The abundance of new knowledge and technological advances that become available in the public domain every day makes it difficult to keep up with what is going on. University graduates can expect that even their most advanced technical knowledge can become outdated in a matter of months. Skilled workers need to constantly adapt to new products and techniques, bearing in mind that some careers do not even have a chance to change. They simply disappear. We must therefore constantly retool ourselves and become perpetual students, or risk the prospect of becoming obsolete.

Lifelong learning is the only way to remain competitive and maintain our relevance in the job market. Workers must understand that they need to take personal responsibility in continually investing in their own growth development and self-renewal, like the way a progressive company invests in R&D and comes up with new and better products or services it can offer. One's future employability and appeal as a job candidate now depend on one's relentless drive to update credentials, acquire new knowledge and skills and staying abreast of what is happening in one's own field of expertise.

Many unemployed workers groan in not being able to find jobs after going for retraining or learning new skills. Many of them feel that it is a wasteful effort. This perception must be quickly corrected before it becomes widespread. Workers must realise that it is the low external demand which is not within our control that contributes to the current soft employment market. The Ministry of Manpower estimates that there are currently only 24 jobs available for every 100 applicants. One is better off with new and updated skills, even though he may not have a job now, because once the market turns, he will be the first to benefit with the new skills in hand. Make no mistake about the relevance of knowledge upgrading and reskilling.

Sir, the process of formal education and training is progressively becoming less of one passing on information but more of an individual's learning to learn so that he can discover for himself. The relevance of knowledge about facts is diminishing while the need to learn how to access, analyse and exploit information and transform it into new knowledge is increasing. While I know strong efforts are being made to impart such soft skills through programmes such as CREST, I feel more needs to be done, particularly for our mature and older workers. This is the group that is most vulnerable to shifts and changes in our economic structure and, therefore, they need to be more adequately prepared to be more flexible and responsive to change.

Sir, beyond any economic considerations, human capital development underpins the fundamental values of society - equity, justice, gender equality, non-discrimination, social responsibility and participation of all in economic and social life. Human resource development and training contribute to improved productivity in the economy, reduce skill mismatches in the labour market, and promote a country's international competitiveness, all of which are vital to Singapore's short and long-term interests.

Sir, let me now move on to my next and final point, which is the current perception that foreign talent and workers are wresting away jobs from Singaporeans. I know this has been elaborated on by the Acting Minister for Manpower in this House yesterday, but I still feel this is a subject worth revisiting. Owing to our smallness and lack of critical mass, it is important for us to keep explaining to Singaporeans that Singapore cannot tick efficiently without foreigners. There are high-end jobs and economic activities where we lack or do not have the talent to fill, and low-end and inconvenient jobs, such as garbage collection or rotating shift work, where Singaporeans just do not want to do. We need foreigners to fill both of these categories. Foreigners are naturally attracted to the opportunities we have created here because of the vacancies that need to be filled. Together with Singaporeans, they have contributed to our development and progress. They have also contributed to making our pie bigger. We can elbow them out, but that would mean that we too would be deprived of opportunities for bigger and higher value-added jobs because multi-national companies with high-end activities will not be able to locate their operations here because of our lack of talent. Those who are already here, especially those with capital-intensive operations, such as the wafer fab and pharmaceutical industries, will not be able to grow if they are deprived of workers needed to run their business activities round the clock.

Let me use the analogy of a soccer game to illustrate my point. As our nation of young footballers readies itself for a game against the adept skills of an established international team, there are but a few ways to come out the winner. Using protectionist methods by having an umpire that is biased or by brute force to defeat the opponent could get us a point or two, or even a win, but not for too long. The game's international audience would pick up on this, leaving us a team without a league to play in. By improving our skills set, enhancing our capabilities and gradually progressing to the same level as our opponents, we earn the respect of our peers and that of our competitors. A soccer game or an 8-hour workday will be more of an interaction of minds, ideas and cultures, rather than the anticipation of the final whistle. We should not allow ourselves to be unduly overcome by the present emotions arising from the current state of unemployment and lose sight of the big picture.

Sir, I think we need to move away from this issue, if I may call it a polarised "dual workforce". By this I mean our local workforce and foreign talents, especially in the middle and middle to lower income brackets, which often evolve into a sensitive topic and stir heated debates whenever we have an economic slowdown. To strive to amalgamate this "dual workforce" should be one of the priorities of this new agency. By evolving to a single bracket without any differentiation between local and foreign workers, our workforce will signal the coming of age, where the need for employers to hire beyond our borders would be purely for reasons of labour or talent shortage, and not because specific skills cannot be found within our shores. Employers could then focus solely on getting the best hands and minds for any job vacancy from an existing pool where any employable resident here is considered equally. It has to be borne in mind that the economy of tomorrow will be truly borderless, virtual, to some degree, and driven by solutions and results. Our challenge is how do we build an inclusive Singapore, where Singaporeans and foreign residents could collectively share a bigger and ever-growing pie which will be win-win for everyone.

I see the ethos of this new Bill as the creation of a homogenous workforce in the long term, comprising locals and foreign residents with a shared goal of contributing jointly and effectively to our nation's continued growth and prosperity. I am confident that the strategy of continually improving the education and training of our workforce will make us better prepared to confront the challenges of globalisation, cost competitiveness of our businesses, and arrest the fear of unemployment in our society.

I wholeheartedly support this Bill, Sir.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Sir, this Bill seeks to incorporate a public body to be named Singapore Workforce Development Agency (SWDA), and to consolidate within the Agency the functions, properties, liabilities and employees of the departments within the Human Capital Development Division and the Labour Market Development Division of the Ministry of Manpower, and the Skills Development Fund Secretariat, the Critical Enabling Skills Training (CREST) Secretariat and the National Skills Recognition System (NSRS) Centre, of the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board.

This exercise of consolidating various departments into one corporation is in line with the Government's overall policy of making all Government organisations slim and trim. I am certain that with this new Agency, productivity will go up. But, at the same time, I am also certain that there shall also be job losses. I wonder what the unions have to say. Have the unions liaised with the Government to redeploy the workers who may have been made redundant as a result of this exercise? If not, have the unions asked for adequate retrenchment benefits for those workers who have lost their jobs?

The question uppermost in my mind is: will this exercise, bringing the various departments under one roof, so to speak, create benefits and jobs for our workers? I would like to ask the Minister: what is it under the old set-up that the Government could not do or do just as well as under this new Agency when it is formed? One would also ask: if the Government is unable to do much for workers in the old set-up, what can the Government achieve with this new Agency? Some people may speculate that under these difficult economic times, the Government is expected to do something to show the workers that it is concerned and is doing something. But I think this reorganisation exercise of transferring various Government departments to a newly-created statutory body shall not help the workers very much.

Changing of names will not do much. It is a case of calling a spade by another name. How can calling a spade by another name increase the usefulness of the spade? You cannot. A spade by any other name shall remain a spade.

As regards the Bill itself, I see that its main thrust is to promote adult education and training. As a former teacher, I can say that the promulgation of adult education by the Government is something not new to me. The Government has adult education programmes from the early days since it came into power in 1959. In the 1960s, almost everyone then was familiar with the adult education programme carried out by the Government body commonly known as "Lembaga", which means "institution" or "board" in Malay. The word "Lembaga" is a short form for the Adult Education Board. In those days, it was more fashionable to use names of Government bodies in Malay. Hence, in the early days, the Malay word "Lembaga" was used, and not its proper English name, the Adult Education Board. As mentioned earlier, the main function of the Agency concerns the areas of adult continuing education. It would appear that the Government's adult education programme has come a full cycle. When the PAP came into power, it rightly embarked on a vigorous adult education programme and after 38 years, when Singapore has joined the ranks of the first world countries, we are still making new laws to ensure that our adult workers get a decent education and training. I hope that the trade unions make sure that this time round, the Government gets it right - to provide the right and meaningful adult education to our workers.

Sir, one issue which I am concerned is the discrimination against the older workers. I have often heard complaints in my meet-the-people sessions by residents who are 40 years old and above. They said that their applications for jobs were often unsuccessful because the employers rejected their applications because they were too old. These employers preferred to employ younger workers. I certainly want the Minister to do something against this current practice in Singapore by employers who discriminate against older workers. I would like to urge the Minister to pass legislation against discrimination of older workers. If, for the time being, the Minister is reluctant to do so, he can still act against employers who practise discrimination against workers under clause 11(1)(f) of this Bill when it becomes law. I hope the Minister would do something to protect the older workers in the job market.

Mr Seng Han Thong (Ang Mo Kio): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, Mr Chiam See Tong doubted the purpose for the establishment of the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and suspected that it was meant for the retrenchment of workers. As the Minister has pointed out, there are in fact a lot of jobs out there but not enough people with the relevant skills to fill them. So, the important thing is to find out how to get the right people for the right post. He commented that the Minister for Manpower should "call a spade a spade". This is not old wine in a new bottle. It is an entirely new agency. We want our people to change their mindset.

Our workers should learn not to be too choosy with the jobs offered to them. In the old days, people used to say that you could die but you should not lose face. Now, I would say, "Losing face is not going to kill you. It is only when you can no longer breathe that you would die!" No doubt, nowadays, it is difficult to find jobs, and many people have different perspectives about it. The workers who are retrenched, especially the older workers, think retrenchment means the end of the road to them. The employers, on the other hand, lament that they cannot get enough workers with the right skills to satisfy their demand. Each has his own perspective on the matter. Mr Chiam See Tong too has his own perspective and his own way of looking at this. The establishment of WDA is a way to help the workers.

Just now, the Minister said that he wanted to first take immediate action to help certain sectors of our workers. That gives hope to the people. If the workers feel that the Minister is not taking any action, then it is no good. I agree that some immediate action should be taken to help the workers and the industry. We must share the experience with the various industries and help to work out programmes to train the workers. We should also encourage the companies to re-engineer their work, help the workers phase into their new jobs and improve methods of working. This will ensure that we transit smoothly into the new economy. We should look at how we can redesign the work so that we have the right workers to do the right work.

The second point I want to point out is that we must reshape the image of some of our workers. In the past, some people have a set frame of mind for their work. We should change that image. In the past, some jobs were traditionally done only by women. This need not be the case. Men could also do them. For example, when you talk about telephone operators, the first thing that comes to mind is the sweet female voice that says, "Hello!" But, come to think of it, what is wrong with a rich baritone voice saying the same thing? Why can the job not be done by men as well?

Another example is taxi-driver. It is traditionally conceived that taxi-driving is a man's job. When a taxi drives up and one finds a woman at the driver's seat, the immediate reaction is inevitably that, "Wah! Woman taxi-driver!" What is wrong with a woman driving a taxi? Likewise, in the past, all trishaw riders were old people, who spat everywhere. But now we see young people in colourful batik shirts, armed with a walkman, and happily riding the trishaw and speaking in English, Japanese or Korean to the European, Japanese or Korean tourists.

In the past, even hawker food was divided along dialect lines. The Teochew people would be selling kway teow; the Hokkien would sell fried noodles or prawn noodles while the Hainanese would sell chicken rice. I think such division is no longer found among the various dialect groups in Singapore nowadays. This has been extended beyond ethnic groups. For example, satay was typically a Malay food but now we see just as many Chinese hawkers selling satay too! We even find Indians singing in the Chinese wayang stage during the "Hungry Ghost" festival. There is nothing wrong with all this integration.

I hope that the WDA would have some very creative civil servants so that they can change the mindset of these workers. So long as they are willing to work, they should be able to do it. If they cannot do it, we would help them to do it.

Sir, on adult education, Mr Chiam mentioned Lembaga. I learnt Malay from Lembaga (Adult Education Board) during my younger days, and now I can converse with my grassroots in Malay.

Sir, in the long term, it is important that we place more emphasis on adult education. It is not the Lembaga of the old days. We want to help our workers learn new skills. That is an important point. It is said that if we have a skill, we can be employed forever. Now we need to be multi-skilled so that we have better employability. We could also think of the ways in which the adults learn. We should make it easier for the adult workers to learn by tailoring the learning to suit their aptitude. This way, we can encourage the older workers to continue learning, and acquiring new skills, so that they can continue to be employable. It is not a matter of "just sitting there and waiting to die".

Mr Speaker, Sir, in the short term, of course, we see many people are unemployed. If we can encourage them to be less choosy and take up jobs that are available to them, we would have succeeded 50% already.

Sir, I support this Bill.

Mr Speaker: Order. I propose to take the break now. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 4.15 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended at 3.55 pm until 4.15 pm. Sitting resumed at 4.15 pm