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Published December 8, 2011
NTUC shifts focus to lifting real wages
By CHUANG PECK MING
(SINGAPORE) The focus has shifted from jobs to wages.
Top on the labour movement's agenda for the next four years is to lift the real wages of all workers, NTUC secretary-general Lim Swee Say said at the opening of a three-day NTUC National Delegates' Conference on Tuesday.
Now in a still-tight jobs market, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) is going all out for 'broadbased real wage increase through productivity gains and gain-sharings', Mr Lim told some 1,400 union delegates and guests who included Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as well as other government and industry leaders.
The move to put the spotlight on wages was decided two months ago at the NTUC Extraordinary Delegates' Conference - and was backed by 99 per cent of the delegates, he said.
Real wages are tipped to jump 2.8 per cent from 2010 to 2011, when the unemployment rate dipped from 2.2 to an estimated 2.0 per cent at end-September this year.
But seen over a longer time-frame, Mr Lim noted that the real wage increase slowed to 0.9 per cent in the past five years, down from 1.7 per cent in the preceding five years.
Wages were flat for the bottom 20 per cent of wage earners over a 10-year period, though the latter did much better in the last five years than in the preceding five years, he said.
Mr Lim, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister's Office,(aka Choh Boh Ministry) said there must be broadbased growth to push for broadbased wage increases. And while he's not pushing for 'growth at all costs', the labour chief said that 'we should also not forget the high costs of slow or no growth'.
The underlying message is that not only real wage increase - but jobs too - can never be taken for granted.
'To create enough jobs and sustain broadbased real wage increase, we have to bite the bullet - not one, but three,' Mr Lim said.
And this means speeding up the transformation of the economy by making Singapore products more productive and services cheaper; sharpening workers' skills; and stepping up innovativeness for businesses to move faster.
It means bringing Singapore workers up to speed with economic changes, building up Singapore's core strengths and nurturing new ones.
And it also means striving for better jobs for all workers in all sectors.
NTUC shifts focus to lifting real wages
By CHUANG PECK MING
(SINGAPORE) The focus has shifted from jobs to wages.
Top on the labour movement's agenda for the next four years is to lift the real wages of all workers, NTUC secretary-general Lim Swee Say said at the opening of a three-day NTUC National Delegates' Conference on Tuesday.
Now in a still-tight jobs market, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) is going all out for 'broadbased real wage increase through productivity gains and gain-sharings', Mr Lim told some 1,400 union delegates and guests who included Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as well as other government and industry leaders.
The move to put the spotlight on wages was decided two months ago at the NTUC Extraordinary Delegates' Conference - and was backed by 99 per cent of the delegates, he said.
Real wages are tipped to jump 2.8 per cent from 2010 to 2011, when the unemployment rate dipped from 2.2 to an estimated 2.0 per cent at end-September this year.
But seen over a longer time-frame, Mr Lim noted that the real wage increase slowed to 0.9 per cent in the past five years, down from 1.7 per cent in the preceding five years.
Wages were flat for the bottom 20 per cent of wage earners over a 10-year period, though the latter did much better in the last five years than in the preceding five years, he said.
Mr Lim, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister's Office,(aka Choh Boh Ministry) said there must be broadbased growth to push for broadbased wage increases. And while he's not pushing for 'growth at all costs', the labour chief said that 'we should also not forget the high costs of slow or no growth'.
The underlying message is that not only real wage increase - but jobs too - can never be taken for granted.
'To create enough jobs and sustain broadbased real wage increase, we have to bite the bullet - not one, but three,' Mr Lim said.
And this means speeding up the transformation of the economy by making Singapore products more productive and services cheaper; sharpening workers' skills; and stepping up innovativeness for businesses to move faster.
It means bringing Singapore workers up to speed with economic changes, building up Singapore's core strengths and nurturing new ones.
And it also means striving for better jobs for all workers in all sectors.
