Govt prepared to enhance support for workers, businesses amid tariff uncertainty: DPM Gan

Straits Times

16-05-2025

Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said job security had emerged as the top-of-mind concern during conversations with fresh graduates, workers and the unions. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
SINGAPORE - The Government is ready to enhance existing schemes to help workers and businesses if the global economy weakens further due to tariff-induced uncertainties, said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong.
While providing an update on the progress made by the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce on May 16, DPM Gan said job security had emerged as the top-of-mind concern during the committee's conversations with fresh graduates, workers and the unions.
He said the task force is working with institutes of higher learning to step up efforts in helping fresh graduates secure good jobs. These include providing career counselling and holding job fairs.
He also encouraged fresh graduates and younger workers to keep their options open, and be more flexible in terms of the type of jobs and the salary package they are looking for.
'When the situation improves and the job market strengthens, there will always be opportunities to look for better jobs and better-paying jobs,' he said.
Employers can also do their part and give more opportunities to young graduates, he added.
'You take them on as a trainee, as interns, so that they will acquire necessary experience because everybody has to start somewhere. We will be talking to these companies to create internship opportunities,' DPM Gan said.
For mid-career workers, he said they can tap the training and upskilling opportunities under initiatives such as the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme, which provides Singaporeans aged 40 and above with a top-up of $4,000 in SkillsFuture Credit to pursue courses that can help them stay industry-relevant.
He urged workers to stay positive and focus on upgrading themselves as the job market and the skill sets needed after the tariff tension settles will be 'quite different'.
'They should keep their skills up to date and relevant, so that when these new opportunities emerge, they will be in a strong position to seize these opportunities that will come our way,' DPM Gan said.
More support for companies
On the business front, DPM Gan said some companies are already grappling with deferred or cancelled orders, while others are worried about declining revenue, potential payment delays and cash flow issues.
To address their concerns, the Government has introduced several measures from tax rebates to the Market Readiness Assistance grant, which supports companies that want to explore new markets by defraying their costs of overseas market promotion, business development and set-up.
'We are also talking to the banks and reviewing our various financing schemes that we have already put in place and are still in place, to see whether they are adequate and whether there is room for us to enhance them,' DPM Gan said, noting that companies that are exporting directly to the US market may face greater issues with working capital in the event of an economic slowdown.
Businesses are also concerned about the policy uncertainty over tariffs. They do not know what tariffs will be applied six months or a year from now, which makes it hard for them to lock in longer-term orders.
'To many businesses, this uncertainty is very worrying and very unsettling,' DPM Gan said, adding that companies have found it difficult to do business planning.
'In the absence of absolute knowledge of what's going to happen, it is always a challenge,' he said.
But he encouraged businesses to look ahead and get ready for any changes that may come their way.
'We must be ready to diversify our supply chain sources, and also diversify our markets for our goods and products.
'At the same time, we also encourage our enterprises to develop new products and services that will allow us to open up new opportunities for our businesses and for the workers,' he said.
He noted that some companies here have taken advantage of the 90-day tariff deferment period to export to the US as much as they can, he said, but he cautioned against interpreting this as a positive sign.
'This is what we call front-loading, and therefore you may see our exports grow, and our economy activities picking up,' he said.
According to figures released by trade agency Enterprise Singapore on May 16, Singapore's non-oil domestic exports surged 12.4 per cent in April year on year, compared with a 5.4 per cent rise in March.
Mr Gan said while the advance sales may boost export numbers, it is 'really no consolation'.
'You are just selling ahead of time, which means in time to come, the exports and production will slow down when they (importers) have already stocked up in the countries that we are exporting to,' he said, adding that the advance exports may also incur storage costs, especially if there are further changes to tariff policies.
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