Employers, unions work to reduce blow of more cuts

Job uncertainty: People play checkers in Singapore. The country’s employment market is starting to slow, with job growth beginning to slide this year. — AFP

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s alliance of the labour movement and employers’ federation expects more workers to lose their jobs in the coming months, and urges them – as well as bosses – to work with it to soften the blow.

Calling the outlook “sobering”, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) secretary-general Ng Chee Meng forecast an uptrend in retrenchments in 2024, a year described as “fragile” by economists, given geopolitical tensions and technological disruptions.