NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AND CONTINUING EDUCATION COUNCIL

PRESS RELEASE

THE NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AND CONTINUING EDUCATION COUNCIL (NPCEC) HOLDS ITS FIRST MEETING

The National Productivity and Continuing Education Council (NPCEC), which will oversee and drive the national effort to boost productivity, held its inaugural meeting on 30 April 2010. Chaired by Deputy Prime Minister , the Council comprises members from the unions, private and public sectors. (List of members in Annex A)

DPM Teo noted that to transform into a productivity-led economy will require a concerted and sustained tripartite effort involving employers, workers and the Government. DPM Teo said: “The NPCEC will adopt a holistic approach in its work. We will focus on driving productivity improvements at the worker, enterprise and sectoral levels. At the enterprise and sectoral levels, it is about innovation, enhancing competitiveness and process improvements. At the worker level, we have to ensure that workers are properly trained and skilled to keep up with the needs of the market. This will raise the overall productivity of Singapore’s economy to sustain future economic growth.”

The NPCEC will prioritise and champion national productivity initiatives at the sectoral and enterprise levels, develop a comprehensive, first-class national Continuing Education and Training (CET) system, and foster a culture of productivity and continuous learning and upgrading in Singapore. The Council will develop sector specific productivity improvement plans as well as broad based programmes to help companies expand their markets, raise innovation capacity and improve their products and processes.

At the sectoral level, the NPCEC will focus initially on 12 sectors. These sectors spanning construction, manufacturing, hospitality, and professional and business services have the greatest potential for productivity enhancements, contribute a significant share to GDP as well as employ a significant number of workers. (Please refer to the list of 12 sectors in Annex B). Work groups will be formed for each sector, comprising representatives from Government agencies, unions and the private sector, to study and develop strategies to raise productivity for the specific sector.

To support the overall productivity drive, the Council will also develop research and benchmarking capabilities for productivity and mount a public communications effort to drive home the productivity message. NTUC NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AND CONTINUING EDUCATION COUNCIL

will also lead an initiative to help raise productivity of low wage workers across various sectors.

The Council will also review the CET framework and make proposals on how this can be enhanced to support a culture of life-long learning and upgrading for employability.

President of the Singapore National Employers’ Federation (SNEF), Mr Stephen Lee welcomed the NPCEC’s formation. He said, “Productivity is something that is very close to the heart of every employer and business. It is an important tool to help us stay competitive, and help our employees focus on acquiring relevant skills. SNEF will give the NPCEC its full support. Workers and businesses have to work together so the fruits of business and economic growth can be shared by all. ”

Voicing support for the national productivity drive, NTUC Secretary- General said, "NTUC is in full support of this national effort to improve productivity and strengthen continuing education. We are heartened that the national productivity drive is an inclusive one that embraces all levels of workers, in particular the lower waged workers. The Labour Movement will mobilise our unions and reach out to companies and workers to identify and break productivity bottlenecks, and upgrade the skills and capabilities of our workforce through continuing education."

At its first meeting, the NPCEC discussed frameworks for measuring productivity across sectors, broad initiatives to fund productivity programmes, how to help SMEs improve their productivity, NTUC’s initiative to help low-wage workers raise their productivity, and Singapore’s CET system. The NPCEC also discussed construction sector productivity improvement plan.

Issued on 30 Apr 2010

NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AND CONTINUING EDUCATION COUNCIL

Media Contacts For media queries, please contact:

Ms Mayna Teo Assistant Director, Corporate Communications Ministry of Manpower Tel: 63171510 Hp: 97987939 Email: [email protected]

Ms Ang Siok Hui Deputy Director, Corporate Communications Ministry of Trade and Industry Tel: 63327705 HP: 96917320 Email: [email protected]

NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AND CONTINUING EDUCATION COUNCIL

Annex A MEMBERS OF NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AND CONTINUING EDUCATION COUNCIL (NPCEC)

Government Representatives 1. Teo Chee Hean Deputy Prime Minister (Chairman) 2. Minister for Trade & Industry 3. Minister for Manpower 4. Lim Hwee Hua Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and Transport 5. S Iswaran Senior Minister of State, Trade & Industry and Education 6. Senior Minister of State, National Development and Education 7. Minister of State, Trade & Industry and Manpower Union Representatives 8. John de Payva President, NTUC 9. Lim Swee Say Secretary-General, NTUC 10. Lim Kuang Beng General Secretary, Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union (SISEU); and NTUC Central Committee Member 11. Abdul Subhan bin President, Shamsul Hussein Food, Drinks and Allied Workers’ Union (FDAWU) Industry Representatives 12. Mr Stephen Lee President, Singapore National Employers’ Federation 13. Dr Ahmad Magad President, Singapore Productivity Association 14. Mr Aaron Boey Asia Pacific President, Levi Strauss 15. Mr Choo Chiau Beng CEO, Keppel Corp 16. Mr Liew Mun Leong President and CEO, CapitaLand 17. Mr Douglas Foo Chairman, Apex-Pal 18. Mr Simon Lam Venture Director, Shell, Eastern Petroleum Complex 19. Mr Pek Lian Guan MD, Tiong Seng Contractors Pte Ltd

NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AND CONTINUING EDUCATION COUNCIL

Annex B

Priority Sectors

1. Construction 2. Electronics 3. Precision Engineering 4. Transport Engineering 5. General Manufacturing 6. Retail 7. F&B 8. Hotels 9. Healthcare 10. Infocomm 11. Logistics and Storage 12. Admin and Support Services