Companies that benefit from Singaporean government funding must make efforts to improve workers’ livelihoods, the country’s minister of trade and industry recently said in a speech about the 2019 budget. The minister also announced the merger of two funds — the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG) and the Inclusive Growth Programme — which, he said, demonstrates the government’s commitment to urging companies to “think of how to improve their workers’ skills and career prospects” when they design their transformation plans.
Companies starting EDG-funded projects on or after 1 Apr 2020 will be required to detail what positive worker outcomes they will achieve — for example, salary increases, job creation, job redesign or increased hiring of older workers.