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Industry & Employment

Global

Recession

  • The U.S. shed around 40 million jobs at the peak of the pandemic. One group of economists estimates that 42% of the jobs lost are gone forever.

Automation

  • Oxford Economics, a UK-based research firm: Up to 20 million manufacturing jobs will be lost globally to robots by 2030.

Examples

The deployment of robots as a response to the coronavirus was rapid. They were suddenly cleaning floors at airports and taking people’s temperatures.

  • Hospitals and universities deployed Sally, a salad-making robot created by tech company Chowbotics, to replace dining-hall employees;
  • Malls and stadiums bought Knightscope security-guard robots to patrol empty real estate.
  • Companies that manufacture in-demand supplies like hospital beds and cotton swabs turned to industrial robot supplier, Yaskawa America, to help increase production.

Government Stance

  • In the past, the U.S. responded to technological change by investing in education. And the idea of education in the U.S. still focuses on college for young workers rather than on retraining employees. The country spends 0.1% of GDP to help workers navigate job transitions, less than half what it spent 30 years ago.
  • The U.S. government incentivizes companies to automate, he says, by giving tax breaks for buying machinery and software. A business that pays a worker $100 pays $30 in taxes, but a business that spends $100 on equipment pays about $3 in taxes, he notes. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act lowered taxes on purchases so much that “you can actually make money buying equipment,” Acemoglu says.

Work Ethic

  • According to data published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 2019, Asia has the longest average work-week.
  • Three ASEAN countries are in the top 10, with Myanmar clocking 48 hours, Brunei, 47 and Malaysia, 46.
  • Thailand and Singapore are in the top 20, with an average of 43 hours spent at work each week.

Workspaces

  • Singapore: Remote workspaces might lead to better productivity - Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Associate Professor Andy Ho said: “I think being able to meet on Zoom is actually not a bad thing, in a way that you can make sure that people actually are punctual. It's hard to be late on a Zoom meeting, you're home already, where else can you be?”
  • But it is “very different” from meeting in person – there is less brainstorming, and it can be more of a hindrance than a help, he added. “When everybody is together physically, it is easy to have a creative, dynamic session, whereas in a Zoom meeting, you really can’t speak over one another.”
  • “41 per cent of workers in Singapore would rather continue working remotely than receive a bigger bonus, a survey by human resources solutions agency Randstad found

Gig Workers

  • Grab would be laying off about 5 per cent of staff that really caught people by surprise in 2020.

Innovation

  • Companies in industries from retail to transportation to banking are vying to incorporate new technologies like augmented reality, 3D printing and artificial intelligence into their operations. A 2017 study by the European Patent Office found the number of patents filed related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution increased a growth rate of 54 percent in the past three years.
  • The 2021 Global Chip Shortage
    • The semiconductor processing chain was greatly affected by COVID-19
    • All areas of the global economy were affected (cars, computers, printers, etc)

Singapore

Budget 2022

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) - 80% of the payouts from new and enhanced schemes will flow to SMEs - Favours SMEs who are actively training their workers and increasing their productivity. - Productivity Solutions Grant: Firms that undertake productivity solutions will receive significant support - for a $10,000 productivity project, the Government will pay up to $7,000. - SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit, eligible firms can get additional funding for up to 90% of out-of-pocket expenses for their supported programmes. - Cheng Yew Heng is a food manufacturer and food ingredients supplier. It started out as a small family business in 1947, producing candies and preserved fruits. It is now run by the third generation, and has embarked on a journey of production innovation, automation, and expanded into overseas markets. Today, it is a leading sugar manufacturer and ingredients supplier, and operates its own e-commerce platform. It even launched a food accelerator recently to help start-ups commercialise food technology, scale up, and access new markets. - Singapore has drawn $37 billion in Past Reserves over the past two years - Infocomm Media Development Authority’s Stay Healthy, Go Digital campaign, - 1 Apr 2020 to 31 Dec 2020, the scope of pre-approved digital solutions under PSG will be expanded to help enterprises implement safe distancing and business continuity measures.  In addition, the maximum support level for PSG will be raised to 80%

Skillsets

  • September 2022 all firms employing foreign workers will have to pay all their local employees at least the Local Qualifying Salary, which is currently set at S$1,400.

Pandemic

  • Singapore’s Yale-NUS college surveyed just more than 1,000 migrant workers during a period of lockdown in 2020, concluding that the movement restrictions had led to increased levels of depression and stress.