Hanoi (VNA) – Singapore has launched aregional centre to help ASEAN member states prepare for the future of work.
The Regional Centre for the Future of Work will beadvised by ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi and relevant internationalexperts.
The initiative is especially timely amid COVID-19, SingaporeanMinister for Manpower Josephine Teo said in her keynote address at the HR TechFestival Asia 2020, a three-day online event for international executives andhuman resource (HR) practitioners.
The idea for the new centre was first mooted as a regionalinitiative to ASEAN leaders and International Labour Organisation (ILO)representatives last April, at the 2019 Singapore Conference on the Future ofWork.
The centre will champion embracing technology for inclusivegrowth, workplace safety and health, and tripartite relations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to go digital and adoptremote working arrangements overnight, said Teo. It has also taken a heavy tollon livelihoods. The new centre is aimed at helping member states respond tothese challenges.
Lockdown measures and the rapid worsening of economicconditions have led to heightened unemployment and temporary layoffs, shenoted, in Asia and the Pacific alone, the total loss in working hours for thesecond quarter of 2020 was equivalent to 235 million full-time jobs."
She cited figures by ILO as by June 2020, 35 million ofthese full-time jobs were lost in Southeast Asia. In Singapore, unemploymentrose to 2.8 percent in June, the highest in more than a decade.
The centre will be organising more conferences over the nextfew years, in collaboration with the National Trades Union Congress and the SingaporeNational Employers Federation./.
The Regional Centre for the Future of Work will beadvised by ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi and relevant internationalexperts.
The initiative is especially timely amid COVID-19, SingaporeanMinister for Manpower Josephine Teo said in her keynote address at the HR TechFestival Asia 2020, a three-day online event for international executives andhuman resource (HR) practitioners.
The idea for the new centre was first mooted as a regionalinitiative to ASEAN leaders and International Labour Organisation (ILO)representatives last April, at the 2019 Singapore Conference on the Future ofWork.
The centre will champion embracing technology for inclusivegrowth, workplace safety and health, and tripartite relations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to go digital and adoptremote working arrangements overnight, said Teo. It has also taken a heavy tollon livelihoods. The new centre is aimed at helping member states respond tothese challenges.
Lockdown measures and the rapid worsening of economicconditions have led to heightened unemployment and temporary layoffs, shenoted, in Asia and the Pacific alone, the total loss in working hours for thesecond quarter of 2020 was equivalent to 235 million full-time jobs."
She cited figures by ILO as by June 2020, 35 million ofthese full-time jobs were lost in Southeast Asia. In Singapore, unemploymentrose to 2.8 percent in June, the highest in more than a decade.
The centre will be organising more conferences over the nextfew years, in collaboration with the National Trades Union Congress and the SingaporeNational Employers Federation./.
VNA
