SINGAPORE: The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) wants to focus on three areas this year - raising the employment rate, lowering unemployment, and bringing down underemployment.

Some 35,000 unionised workers are expected to get help to improve their skills and wages, and the ultimate aim is to help workers weather any turmoil in the global economy.

The NTUC also wants to get some 100,000 low-wage workers, including contract and part-time workers, onto the CPF scheme, so that they would not miss out on help schemes such as the Workfare Income Supplement scheme.

The International Labour Organisation estimates that the world will see a five per cent GDP growth. Unemployment, however, will outstrip that growth at over 6.1 per cent, which means five million more people could go jobless around the globe.

Speaking to unionists and workers at the annual Labour Movement Workplan Seminar, labour chief Lim Swee Say assured workers that the job outlook for Singaporeans remains bright, thanks to Singapore's sterling economic performance in 2007 with a 7.5 per cent GDP growth against a low unemployment rate of 1.7 per cent.

Mr Lim said: "We want to continue to do better than the rest of the world. We are in a much better position than many, many other countries.

"Should there be a downturn in the global economy, we're optimistic that at least in Singapore, the pipeline of investments that we've built up, the momentum of employment creation that we've built up over the last two years will be able to carry us through the years."

He said there is enough buffer in the current labour market to withstand any shocks in the global economy. So in the year ahead, the labour movement will focus on helping workers stay nimble to adapt to changes.

Therefore, the NTUC is adopting a three-pronged strategy this year.

The first is to lower unemployment further and help 8,000 jobless people find work in more sectors.

It also targets to raise employment rate and help another 8,000 mature qualified Singaporeans stay employed. These will be done through re-employment, re-deployment and back-to-work initiatives.

Another 19,000 underemployed workers will receive skills and job-upgrading training to help them upgrade in their careers and earn better pay through the Job Re-creation Programme and industry re-development efforts.

NTUC's director for industrial relations, Cham Hui Fong, said: "That's something we'll continue to push for to ensure that generally everyone (gets) some real wage increases, whether in terms of wage increases or bonuses."

On its part, NTUC also helped workers stretch their dollar through its cooperatives like Fairprice, which offers house brands at lower prices so that workers could save on essential items.

NTUC deputy secretary-general Halimah Yacob said: "This is just what the labour movement is doing. We also do expect to see... the government doing something.

"So in the Budget this year, I do hope that the government will come out with some measures to help our low-income workers to cope with the rising costs of living."

The NTUC will be rolling out new initiatives to strengthen its job and skill upgrading programmes later this week.

Mr Lim also said NTUC is also rebranding itself in May to reach out to more Singaporeans. - CNA/ac