GIVEN the ongoing disruptive impact of emerging technologies, official support for upskilling Singaporeans featured prominently once again in this year’s parliamentary Budget debate.

And for all the right reasons; after all, wide-scale investment in upskilling has the potential to boost South-east Asia’s economic output by 4 per cent or US$250 billion, thereby unlocking up to 676,000 new jobs by 2030 as highlighted in PwC’s report, Upskilling for shared prosperity in South-east Asia.

The impact of technology on Singapore’s workforce was discussed widely among MPs, with consensual endorsement of strategies to provide additional support to ensure that workers who need it the most can remain employable in a tech-enabled future.