SINGAPORE The capital of globalization establishes subsidies for the unemployed

The city-state, which is awaiting the arrival of Pope Francis, has for the first time established a retraining scheme for mid- to low-level professional workers, currently very exposed to the economic difficulties linked to the changes generated by the international crises. From April 2025, they will receive grants of S$6,000 for six months, accompanied by training courses.

Singapore () – Singapore is preparing for the visit of Pope Francis on 11 September, the last stage of his already imminent apostolic journey to Asia and Oceania. An event awaited not only by the Catholic minority of this city-state. Singapore probably represents the maximum expression of globalisation on the great Asian continent and at this historical moment the international situation and the development of internal dynamics are raising new critical social problems.

Singapore is a reality that seeks harmony among its many ethnic and religious components, and whose government even uses an iron fist to promote it. But it is also a context that today must face growing risks for its workforce, threatened by internal and international contingencies, with a high cost of living, and challenged by the new possibilities offered by artificial intelligence, whose introduction has caused a wave of layoffs at giants such as Google and Amazon.

In this context, the government has broken a taboo and approved a system of unemployment benefits and retraining benefits for mid- and low-level workers. The core of the Skills Future Jobseeker Support project is the payment of up to 6,000 Singapore dollars (about 4,600 US dollars) over a period of six months to people who have lost their jobs. But above all, the aim is to promote a different kind of mobility, one that guarantees competitiveness while protecting the most vulnerable workforce. According to government estimates, it would potentially involve about 60,000 citizens each year from April 2025 (and from the first quarter of 2026, the measure should also be extended to permanent residents of foreign origin).

The provision is apparently limited, even in the benefits it promises, but the aim is to constitute an incentive for the search for a short-term solution or to cover activities of a periodic or seasonal nature, positively adjusting supply and demand, as well as the requirements of different levels of training. In official plans, coordination with other initiatives already underway is also essential, such as the retraining of workers over forty years of age who wish, with remuneration, to follow full-time courses of a maximum duration of 24 months.

In a working world like Singapore’s, where changing jobs or tasks tends to be frequent in an average life span, the government has wanted to give a signal of encouragement towards this process rather than immediate protection. And also to bet on an adequate availability of jobs and a workforce for the future.