Ng Chee Meng: Put Workers in the Centre of AI-Enabled Growth

~ Singapore’s approach to AI-enabled progress must be for our people, anchored in fairness, resilience and opportunity for all because every worker matters ~

Member of Parliament (MP) for Jalan Kayu SMC, Mr Ng Chee Meng, who is also Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), has filed a Parliamentary Motion, titled "An Artificial Intelligence (AI) Transition with No Jobless Growth", for the May Sitting of Parliament, commencing on Tuesday, 5 May 2026.

AI adoption is accelerating across every sector, reshaping business priorities, operations and job role. While AI presents opportunities for growth and productivity, it has also surfaced growing concerns among workers and businesses. NTUC’s engagement with workers on the ground shows heightened anxieties, with one in five respondents citing job security as their top concerns linked to AI and automation. Among PMEs and mid-career workers, 56 per cent surveyed said they felt the need to upskill to keep pace with AI¹.

Parliamentary Motion: AI growth with fairness, resilience and opportunity for all

Against this backdrop, the Parliamentary Motion underscores the need to put workers at the centre of Singapore’s AI-driven economic growth, as it can no longer be assumed that the latter would translate automatically into more or better jobs. In his speech on the Parliamentary Motion, Mr Ng calls for proactive and early action to be taken to champion workers’ interest and ensure that they are able to benefit as Singapore moves forward in an AI‑enabled economy. The Parliamentary Motion:

1. Recognises the transformative power of new technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), to drive Singapore’s next phase of economic development;
2. Emphasises that Singapore’s approach to AI-enabled growth must be anchored in fairness, resilience, and opportunity for all;
3. Resolves to equip and support workers and enterprises to seize new opportunities and advance together; and
4. Affirms that economic progress must remain inclusive, and that Singapore must not have jobless growth, because every worker matters.

While AI has the potential to raise productivity and strengthen competitiveness, Mr Ng cautioned against allowing technology to race ahead without adequate worker support, or slowing innovation out of fear. He stressed the need for a distinctly Singapore approach — one that anchors AI‑enabled growth in fairness, resilience and opportunity, with workers remaining at the heart of economic transformation. With collective and coordinated action, AI should be used to augment – not replace – workers; delivering better jobs, stronger enterprises and inclusive growth.

Four key moves: Act early, transform businesses, train workers, support transitions

Translating these principles into action, Mr Ng also outlined four practical and forward-looking areas to support Singapore’s AI transition with no jobless growth:

1. Building trusted market intelligence and foresight to anticipate how job roles or functions will evolve, so that workers and enterprises can act early with clearer guidance;
2. Enabling enterprises, including SMEs, to transform with AI, to deliver stronger business performance and better worker outcomes;
3. Enabling workers to seize new opportunities through training and reskilling, clearer career pathways and better job matching as jobs evolve; and
4. Enabling displaced workers to bounce back with dignity and confidence.

Elaborating on the need for a robust market intelligence and foresight system, Mr Ng said it should draw on macro-level and ground-up insights, including insights from trade associations on industry adoption of AI; enterprise data on job redesign and productivity shifts; and unions’ sensing on worker concerns, skills gaps and effective training pathways.

Citing the Company Training Committee as a proven NTUC initiative has enabled in business and workforce transformation in tandem, Mr Ng noted that more than 3,800 CTCs have been formed, benefitting over 300,000 blue-and-white collar workers, He said that there are possibilities to further scale CTCs, including in AI-related transformation, and proposed for Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) to co-lead the CTC initiative together with NTUC, as part of the Tripartite Jobs Council. This will allow CTCs to reach more enterprises and workers, while providing more targeted AI-related support. Mr Ng added that additional resources would be needed for this enhanced approach, and that funding requests would be raised in due course.

Mr Ng also shared that NTUC targets to scale up its AI-Ready SG initiative and will provide more than 1 million training places over the next few years, enabling workers to build AI skills early and stay prepared as their roles and work scopes evolve.

Even with efforts to train workers and support enterprise transformation, Mr Ng acknowledged that some displacement would occur. He emphasised the importance of reaching affected workers early and shortening the time between displacement and re‑employment. He highlighted measures such as earlier retrenchment notification, so that unions and NTUC’s e2i can step in sooner to provide reskilling pathways, career and emotional support, and work with employers to identify suitable job opportunities even before a worker’s last day of employment. He also called for the expansion of the coverage of the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support Scheme, adjusting it closer to PME median gross income levels. Together, these measures would help displaced workers recover faster and bounce back with confidence.

Use AI for opportunities: Grow economy, enable enterprises and create jobs

Mr Ng emphasised that the desired outcomes are threefold: to grow Singapore’s economic pie while ensuring that the growth translates to good jobs and opportunities for Singaporeans; to enable enterprises to harness AI technologies for transformation while equipping workers to take on higher-value and broader roles; and to invest in workers early so they can transition smoothly into AI-augmented jobs.

With foresight, partnership and early action, Singapore’s approach to AI-enabled progress can once again turn disruption into opportunity, raising productivity while ensuring every worker has a clear pathway forward. These proactive approaches reduce disruption, shorten transitions, and keep workers and businesses connected to opportunities as the economy evolves.

For more information, refer to the embargoed speech by Mr Ng Chee Meng. The speech is to be checked against delivery.