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Every generation of Singaporeans has faced a different future.
Reflecting on Singapore’s journey over the past six decades, NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Desmond Choo notes that while the challenges confronting the nation have changed, one thing remained constant: Singapore’s success has always depended on her people.
As Singapore enters a new era of transformation today, conversations about economic competitiveness often centred on artificial intelligence (AI), digitalisation and emerging technologies.
While these developments will undoubtedly shape the future, Mr Choo believes Singapore’s greatest strength has never been technology alone. He points to a simple but powerful truth: “Singapore’s competitive advantage is not AI, nor our infrastructure. It is our people.”
It has been generations of workers of all collars, who adapted to change, embraced new opportunities and helped move the economy, society and nation forward.
No two generations of workers have experienced the same Singapore.
The pioneer generation built industries, created opportunities and laid the foundations for growth in a young nation. Over time and sheer effort by her people, Singapore transformed into a global hub for trade, finance, logistics and professional services, opening new possibilities for future generations.
Today’s workforce faces a different landscape. AI, automation and digital technologies are reshaping jobs faster than ever before. Career paths are becoming less linear, and workers navigate multiple transitions throughout their working lives. The challenge is no longer preparing workers for a single career. Rather, it is equipping them to remain adaptable and resilient across many stages of their working lives.
Yet amid these changes, her people’s ability to adapt remains one of Singapore’s greatest strengths. This adaptability has never been driven by technology alone. It has been powered by workers who continually learned new skills, embraced new ways of working and stepped up when jobs and industries evolved.
Few industries embody this spirit more clearly than maritime.
Mr Choo points to the maritime sector as a powerful example of how workers have adapted alongside technological and operational changes. The tools, systems, and technologies used today are vastly different from those of previous generations. Yet, maritime professionals have continuously adapted, ensuring Singapore remains connected to the world and relevant in an increasingly competitive global landscape.
Their experience mirrors Singapore’s broader growth story, where progress has always depended on workers evolving alongside the economy.
As Mr Choo puts it:
“Economic transformation must always be matched by workforce transformation.”
Change is easier to embrace when people feel they have a stake in it.
For decades, the National Trades Union Congress played an important role in ensuring workers remain active participants in the nation’s development story. By bridging national economic priorities with workers’ everyday realities, unions ensured that growth benefits workers through better wages, stronger protections, and meaningful opportunities to progress in their careers.
As industries continue to evolve, Mr Choo believes workers need more than reassurance. They need access to opportunities that help them remain relevant, deepen their skills and prepare for future roles.
Meaningful transformation, he argues, cannot be achieved solely through top-down decisions.
“Economic transformation cannot be delivered only from the top down. It must be shaped with the lived experiences of workers and employers on the ground.”
This belief is reflected across the Labour Movement, including within the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU).
Throughout Singapore’s nation-building journey, SMOU has stood alongside maritime professionals through periods of growth, disruption and transformation. As the industry evolved, the union evolved alongside it, adapting its support to meet changing needs.
Beyond representing workers’ interests, SMOU has championed initiatives that help maritime professionals prepare for the future. Through skills upgrading opportunities, career development programmes and initiatives such as the Tripartite Maritime Training Award, the union has supported members in strengthening their capabilities and adapting to changing industry demands.
The objective remains clear: to ensure workers are not left behind as industries move forward.
Looking ahead, Mr Choo believes supporting workers through these transitions must remain a shared effort among employers, unions and the Government.
AI, digitalisation and the green transition are already reshaping industries around the world, creating new opportunities and requiring workers to continue learning and adapting throughouttheir careers.
Beyond technical skills, workers need the confidence to navigate uncertainty and the assurance that there are clear pathways to future opportunities, supported by skills upgrading, career progression, and career transition support.
Through Singapore’s tripartite framework, employers, unions, and the Government can help ensure workers have the skills, opportunities, and support they need to adapt confidently and progress throughout their careers.
Similarly in the maritime industry, digital operations, alternative fuels and emerging technologies are transforming the nature of work. As the maritime professionals embrace digitalisation, emerging technologies and new ways of working, SMOU will have to support its members through change while ensuring their voices remain heard.
Ultimately, resilience is not just about how economies or industries respond to change, but how people respond to it.
Singapore’s progress has always depended on workers who were prepared to embrace change, learn continuously, and move forward together. That was true for the generations who built Singapore. It remains true for workers today and for the generations that follow.
Singapore’s competitiveness and workers’ success have always gone hand in hand. A competitive economy creates opportunities for workers, while adaptable and skilled workers help Singapore remain competitive in a changing world.
Because ultimately, Singapore’s greatest strength has never been technology. It has always been, and will always be, her people.
Helping workers in Singapore navigate successfully from one opportunity to the next is a challenge that Ms Cham Hui Fong, Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), keeps a close eye on.
As industries are reshaped by AI, automation, and global uncertainty, she believes a “people-first” approach to workforce transformation goes a long way. In times of rapid change, fear is the real friction.
“It is the anxiety that comes from watching the world shift and wondering whether there is a place for you in what comes next,” she points out.
Younger workers worry whether the skills they are learning today will remain relevant tomorrow. Older workers, meanwhile, wonder if decades of hard-earned expertise might suddenly count for nothing. Both groups need more than a skills upgrade.
“They need to know that someone is genuinely invested in helping them succeed. The labourmovement does not resist change, but seeks to ensure that as transformation accelerates, no one is left behind,” Ms Cham emphasises.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping workflows. Technology is increasingly deployed to ease manpower constraints and improve productivity. But, as Ms Cham notes, “the success of a sustainable business depends not on the tools deployed, but on whether people are equipped, heard, and given the confidence to move with change.”
Rather than shielding workers from transformation, she believes they should be active partners in the process. When workers are given the opportunity to understand and prepare for change, they are far more likely to embrace it.
Singapore has long recognised the importance of workforce development. In earlier years, collective agreements commonly included provisions requiring employers to allocate between two and four per cent of payroll for training. However, Ms Cham recalls that ensuring those resources genuinely built capability was not always straightforward.
Companies were known to pad the training budget with office-space rentals and utility charges. Boxes were ticked without measuring outcomes. Questions about whether workers had acquired meaningful skills, progressed into better jobs, or strengthened their company’s resilience often remained unanswered.
This is where the Company Training Committee (CTC) marks a significant shift.
An initiative of the Labour Movement, CTCs bring together management, union representatives, and workers to examine how businesses are evolving and what capabilities employees need to thrive alongside those changes. Instead of focusing on generic courses, training is tied directly to operational needs.
“The beauty of CTC lies in worker participation,” Mr Cham remarks. When workers are involved in the transformation process, they are better placed to take ownership. They are more willing to speak honestly about what is difficult.
“When workers understand the challenges and the rationale behind decisions, they are more likely to remain engaged and committed. They become advocates rather than resistors when change is introduced,” she adds.
She cites airport baggage handling as an example. Once checked in, a bag moves through belts, scanners, and sorting points before reaching the right aircraft. Throughout that journey, unexpected situations can arise, from misplaced baggage to last-minute flight changes, requiring quick judgment and coordination.
Through CTC discussions, workers can help identify pain points and refine workflows based on firsthand experience. They can explain why a process that appears efficient on paper may become difficult to execute during the early-morning peak, when colleagues call in sick, and the operation is already under strain.
“A consultant who job-shadows during office hours may observe a process. The worker who starts work at 4 am faces the challenge in real time,” Ms Cham points out.
Her view is that innovation becomes sustainable when it is built with people, rather than imposed upon them. Workers gain a clearer understanding of why change is taking place and how it can improve their working lives. Companies, in return, enhance productivity while preserving valuable operational knowledge.
“In practice, this means better job redesign,” she says.
Ms Cham underscores another key point: Technology should complement expertise, not replace it.
She cites that digital systems can flag potential maintenance issues, recommend engineers the right tools, and support final safety checks before an aircraft is cleared for departure. These systems improve reliability and provide an additional layer of assurance.
Yet experienced engineers continue to rely on what she describes as their “cognitive skills”: the ability to detect a problem through the sound of an engine, the feel of rust of a component, or a subtle visual cue that no dashboard has yet learned to read.
The risk here is therefore not whether technology replaces people, but whether people lose the opportunity to develop judgment in the first place. If younger engineers lean entirely on automated systems from the start, they may never build the instincts that experienced professionals acquired over ten or fifteen years on the job.
The goal is not to resist AI, but to deploy it wisely. Businesses that invest in both AI and thoughtful implementation will be better positioned for long-term success. They will retain institutional knowledge, nuture confident professionals, and create roles where “human judgement and digital capability reinforce each other”, she believes.
Ms Cham underscores another key point: Technology should complement expertise, not replace it.
She cites that digital systems can flag potential maintenance issues, recommend engineers the right tools, and support final safety checks before an aircraft is cleared for departure. These systems improve reliability and provide an additional layer of assurance.
Yet experienced engineers continue to rely on what she describes as their “cognitive skills”: the ability to detect a problem through the sound of an engine, the feel of rust of a component, or a subtle visual cue that no dashboard has yet learned to read.
The risk here is therefore not whether technology replaces people, but whether people lose the opportunity to develop judgment in the first place. If younger engineers lean entirely on automated systems from the start, they may never build the instincts that experienced professionals acquired over ten or fifteen years on the job.
The goal is not to resist AI, but to deploy it wisely. Businesses that invest in both AI and thoughtful implementation will be better positioned for long-term success. They will retain institutional knowledge, nuture confident professionals, and create roles where “human judgement and digital capability reinforce each other”, she believes.
Looking ahead, she acknowledges that the companies most likely to succeed will not necessarily be those with the most advanced technology. Rather, they are the ones that recognise technology as a tool, while at the centre of their strategy is people and their resilience, creativity, adaptability, and collaboration.
For Singapore, where the belief that every worker matters has long been a guiding principle, this is about more than business success. It is about building national resilience.
The goal, Ms Cham emphasises, is inclusive prosperity and progress. This requires deliberate effort to ensure that no one is left behind, whether a young graduate navigating a shifting job market, a mature worker whose decades of experience are irreplaceable, or a migrant worker keeping essential services running.
“That inclusiveness does not happen by accident,” she underscores. While change is inevitable, leaving workers behind is not.
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