Foreword

ETHOS Issue 29, Nov 2025

In 2001, Singapore experienced a severe recession. The dot-com bubble had burst and global demand for electronics fell sharply. The September 11 attacks in the US further destabilised global markets, exacerbating the economic downturn.

The Government established an Economic Review Committee (ERC) to chart a path to economic recovery, as well as longer-term strategies for sustainable growth. The ERC recognised that economic restructuring would lead to more frequent job displacements for Singaporeans, as people’s skills became obsolete. It recommended the creation of a Continuing Education and Training body to promote lifelong learning, so that Singaporeans could remain employable in a rapidly changing world. This led to the decision to set up the Workforce Development Agency (WDA).

By the time we established the WDA in September 2003, the world had become even more uncertain. SARS had disrupted economies and livelihoods. Nearly 26,000 Singaporeans lost their jobs in just three months, and our unemployment rate soared to a high of 4.7% that year.

As WDA’s first Chief Executive, my then team faced the urgent mission of helping over 85,000 unemployed Singaporeans re-enter the workforce. Through initiatives like the Workforce Skills Qualification system and Place-and-Train programmes, we began efforts to equip workers with the skills needed to adapt to the changed economic landscape.

WDA’s efforts represented Singapore’s first national push to embed skills upgrading and lifelong learning into our workforce and societal culture, laying the foundation for what would later become the SkillsFuture movement.

A Decade of Transformation

The SkillsFuture movement was launched in 2015 to empower every Singaporean to develop skills mastery and pursue their aspirations.

In 2016, we restructured WDA to create SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and Workforce Singapore (WSG), to provide sharper focus to the range of work needed to drive skills development and employability. Building on WDA’s decade of groundwork, SSG fostered a culture of lifelong learning, while WSG enabled quality employment opportunities.

To date, over a million Singaporeans have used their SkillsFuture Credit to upskill themselves. Our Work-Study Programmes have also helped graduates secure better wages, and supported many jobseekers and mid-career workers in making successful career transitions.

Familiar, Yet Different Waters

Today’s operating context is once again uncertain and volatile. But this time round, economic headwinds, trade tensions, and geopolitical contestation have introduced new challenges. We also face a pace of technological advancement that has made some skills obsolete faster than ever. But these new challenges also present new opportunities for us.

The Public Service stands at the forefront of responding to these challenges. Among other efforts, the Government is charting out a new economic blueprint for Singapore, and fundamentally rethinking the skills our workforce needs to stay ahead of disruption.

For example, the ability of AI to replicate and even outperform human tasks can create anxieties for workers. Yet AI also offers significant productivity gains. Many of our public officers already use tools like Pair to support them in drafting meeting notes and speeches. Our frontline agencies also deploy AI chatbots, among other tools, to improve operations and service delivery.

To harness AI effectively in our work, the Public Service must find new ways to add value from the use of this new technology. This starts with being open to new ideas and new ways of working.

Building a Future-Ready Public Service

We are not starting from scratch. Over the years, we have stepped up our efforts to strengthen skills training and lifelong learning across the Public Service.

One such area is in mastering technology. Since last year, the Permanent Secretaries and Senior Public Service Leaders have undergone digital training on a variety of topics, including modernising digital products, data, and AI. These equip us to make better decisions as we drive digital strategy, build capabilities, and effect change in our organisations.

We are progressively equipping all our public officers with digital, data and AI (“DDA”) skills, so that every officer can mainstream these tools in daily work. We have recently rolled out a mandatory AI literacy course for all public officers.

We have also developed new support tools for skills training and lifelong learning. For example, CSC’s enhanced LEARN platform personalises the learning experience for every officer, tailoring recommendations to them based on their jobs and career goals. Officers and supervisors can also use the One Talent Gateway to explore career pathways and access development opportunities.

These efforts are not merely boxes to tick or tools to download. They embody the spirit and mindset of lifelong learning that each of us must commit to, and actively participate in.

I ask that each of us make lifelong learning part of our regular routine. Dedicate at least an hour weekly to learn something new or try a new AI tool. Apply this knowledge to improve our daily work processes. Encourage your colleagues to do the same. Because it is this attitude of continuous learning and growth that will allow us to keep making our Public Service better than it was yesterday.

Our Continuing Mission

The Singapore story has always been about defying the odds, through resilience, tenacity, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. As stewards of this story, we must regularly ask ourselves what it takes to keep the Singapore story going.

The answer will evolve as the world continues to change, technology advances, and our people’s needs and aspirations evolve. We will therefore have to continually adapt and innovate to ensure our governance stays relevant and effective.

The SkillsFuture movement — and the spirit of lifelong learning that it champions — is central to this effort. When we commit to continuous learning, we ensure that our Public Service stays adaptable and future ready. We also help to uplift skills and workforce development across industry sectors, through our agencies’ roles as industry regulators and developers. Most importantly, by role-modelling this spirit, we demonstrate to Singaporeans that transformation is not something that happens to us, but something that we can make happen ourselves. In doing so, we exemplify how to embrace change, pursue growth, and contribute meaningfully to our nation’s continuing story.

Together with Singaporeans, this is how we will keep writing the next chapter of the Singapore story.

Leo Yip
Head, Civil Service