1/6/2020 Focus on jobs that technology has created, not on jobs that were lost: Josephine Teo, Manpower

Manpower News & Top Stories - The Straits Ti… 1/6/2020 Focus on jobs that technology has created, not on jobs that were lost: Josephine Teo, Manpower News & Top Stories - The Straits Ti…

But even as jobs disappear, new ones appear and existing jobs change as well, said Manpower Minister

THE STRAITS TIMES Josephine Teo on Wednesday (Sept 18).

"It is important to pay attention to job creation, even as we think about and pay attention to the jobs that

Focus on jobs that technology has are being lost, because that's really where the hope lies," she stressed at a welcome dinner for the Singapore
Summit Young Societal Leaders Programme.

created, not on jobs that were lost: The four-day event, which ends on Saturday, is attended by 19 delegates from 13 nations, including China,

Josephine Teo Thailand and the Netherlands.

Co-organised by the National University of Singapore and Temasek Foundation, the summit explores how
individuals can collaborate and lead initiatives for social inclusion in the technological and social sectors.

In her speech, Mrs Teo also said work in future will involve greater partnership between employers and the
Government because the scale and depth of changes will be more intense than in the past.

The kind of new technologies employers decide to use for their businesses, as well as how they choose to
transform their business models, will drive the changes in the nature of jobs and the skills required to meet
those changes, she said.

Related Story
Trust is key commodity in enabling deeper
collaboration in digital economy: Iswaran

Mrs Teo in a dialogue with moderator Kenneth Paul Tan, Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, 
during the event. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY Related Story
Demand for tech jobs in Singapore grew 20%
over last year: Report
 PUBLISHED SEP 19, 2019, 12:05 AM SGT UPDATED SEP 23, 2019, 8:48 PM

 
Jolene Ang (mailto:jolenezl@sph.com.sg) Related Story
Lunch with Sumiko: Manpower Minister
Josephine Teo on politics, career and family

SINGAPORE - When it comes to the 4th Industrial Revolution, marked by digitisation, robots and artificial
intelligence, there is an "obsession" with trying to estimate the scale of the impact on jobs, particularly job "The scale and the depth of the changes in all likelihood will be more intense than in the past... there is
losses. great value in attempting to crowd-source understanding of what's happening, of issues as they emerge and
also ideas for solutions," she added.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/manpower/focus-on-jobs-that-technology-has-created-not-on-jobs-that-were-lost-josephine 1/4 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/manpower/focus-on-jobs-that-technology-has-created-not-on-jobs-that-were-lost-josephine 2/4

1/6/2020 Focus on jobs that technology has created, not on jobs that were lost: Josephine Teo, Manpower News & Top Stories - The Straits Ti… 1/6/2020 Underwater nurseries nurture corals and more in waters off Singapore's southern coast, Environment News & Top Stories - The Strait…

She also stressed that whatever the 4th Industrial Revolution may mean to businesses and industry, "a
focus on workers and a focus on jobs and skills ought to be at front and centre of everything we do".
THE STRAITS TIMES
Mrs Teo also shared four areas of employment outcomes that "keep her awake at night": keeping Premium

employment rates high; keeping unemployment rates low; having sustainable wage growth for citizens;
and achieving a sense of financial security in retirement.
Underwater nurseries nurture corals
"We all expect that the future of work will be reshaped. The question is how it will be reshaped, and and more in waters off Singapore's
whether we can anticipate (changes), and if we have a better sense of what to expect, what we can do about
it." southern coast
At a dialogue after the dinner, a delegate from the Philippines, Ms Cherrie D Atilano, chief executive of an
agricultural social enterprise in the Philippines, asked the minister about women empowerment in
leadership.

Replying, Mrs Teo, who is one of three women ministers in Singapore's Cabinet, said the biggest challenge
for women is still that they have to take on more of the caregiving responsibilities at home.

"We have to ask ourselves what are the practical ways that we can allow women to continue to advance in
their professional lives, and that means helping to take care of other commitments, primarily the family."

Citing Singapore, she noted the big push to create provisions for eldercare and more places for pre-school.

"This idea of women empowerment is contextual. You have to look at different societies and ask what is
impeding women from going further, and then find practical ways to address it.

"I would not say that Singapore has completely arrived, (but) I think that we've made good progress, and
we'd like to be able to do more," she added.

ST & BT Podcasts

Getting started with SkillsFuture-funded cour

00:00 / 11:16
Coral fragments being nurtured at in-situ nurseries in the waters off Lazarus Island, one of Singapore's
southern islands. PHOTOS: REEF ECOLOGY LAB

 PUBLISHED JAN 4, 2020, 5:00 AM SGT

They also provide shelter and food for organisms that need corals for survival

Terms & Conditions Data Protection Policy

 

Need help? Reach us here. Advertise with us
 
Audrey Tan Environment Correspondent (mailto:audreyt@sph.com.sg)

In the waters off Singapore's southern coast, underwater gardens are being coaxed back to life.
SPH Digital News / Copyright © 2020 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/manpower/focus-on-jobs-that-technology-has-created-not-on-jobs-that-were-lost-josephine 3/4
1/6/2020 Underwater nurseries nurture corals and more in waters off Singapore's southern coast, Environment News & Top Stories - The Strait… 1/6/2020 Underwater nurseries nurture corals and more in waters off Singapore's southern coast, Environment News & Top Stories - The Strait…

Coral fragments have been "planted" in places that were previously devoid of sea life, such as areas with
damaged coral, or man-made structures such as sea walls.


In 2013, coral fragments from Sultan Shoal, located south of Tuas, were grown in nurseries and transplanted
As the fragments bloom and grow, forming a coral reef, the reef structure becomes a beacon for fish and
onto sea walls on Lazarus Island, one of the Republic's southern islands.
other marine creatures - a rich tapestry of life in places where barely anything grew before.
Dr Toh said the coral colonies transplanted to Lazarus Island were doing well - with some of them
But new research by marine biologists from the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Reef Ecology Lab
spawning last year - and Ms Wee's study went one step further by showing the value of nurseries in
has shown that the nurseries the coral fragments are reared in are more than just a source of "potted corals"
nurturing not just individual corals, but entire marine communities.
for future transplanting.
Prof Chou said the findings from the latest study could provide insights for future reef restoration projects.
Marine creatures, including brittle stars, crabs and sea slugs called nudibranchs, can also be found within
"Instead of transplanting individual coral colonies out onto the reef, there is the potential to move the entire
live corals in the nursery itself.
nursery structure out onto the transplant site."
Many of these creatures are obligate coral dwellers - meaning that they depend on the corals for survival, as
A spokesman for MPA told The Straits Times that the agency is aware of the latest study.
the structures provide them with food or shelter, for example.
She said: "MPA started the coral relocation and conservation programme in 2013 to safeguard the coral
Live coral colonies provide marine organisms with many food sources, including mucus and nutrient-rich
reefs in Sultan Shoal in response to an environmental impact assessment.
tissues.

Lead researcher Crystle Wee said the findings show that nurseries may not just be a way to generate coral "With the success and completion of our programme... we hope it will continue to inspire others. MPA will
material for reef restoration projects. continue to develop our port in a sustainable manner."

"The fact that there are organisms using the nurseries for food and shelter shows that the nurseries can also
provide important functions beyond coral propagation," said Ms Wee, who worked with eight other
researchers on the study as part of her final-year project as an undergraduate.

Their findings were published in the Journal for Nature Conservation, a scientific journal, last August.

Such nurseries are known as in-situ nurseries, which mean that the fragments are reared not in tanks on
shore, but in the ocean itself.

Coral fragments about the length of a human finger are first sourced from healthy coral reefs. The

latest study used fragments from corals growing off Kusu Island.

The fragments are then placed on mesh nets or plastic pipes and allowed to grow under the supervision of
marine biologists. The biologists tend to them by ensuring that the fragments are not smothered by
sediment stirred up by ocean currents, for example.

When the fragments grow to about 15cm long - a process that could take up to a year - they are suitable for
transplantation onto degraded reef sites.

This is a method that is commonly used around the world, including Singapore.

Earlier research conducted by Emeritus Professor Chou Loke Ming and Dr Toh Tai Chong - both marine
biologists from NUS who co-supervised Ms Wee's work - had yielded success in this area.

The project, funded by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), had given corals lying in the
path of the Tuas port development works a second lease of life.
1/6/2020 Underwater nurseries nurture corals and more in waters off Singapore's southern coast, Environment News & Top Stories - The Strait…
Vision 2020: Opportunities on tech front,
but also a bumpy ride
Irene Tham
 (mailto:itham@sph.com.sg)
 PUBLISHED JAN 5, 2020, 5:00 AM SGT
Trade tensions are set to linger but there are glimmers of hope. Trust within
societies is fraying and identity politics surging, but not without a challenge.
Technology is making a difference to many, and climate change is getting closer
attention. Insight explores these issues and how they might play out this year.
By the end of 2019, the tech world had learnt two things.
First, be prepared for a bumpy ride when standing on the shoulders of two warring giants.
Second, those who hold the keys to unlock the possibilities of bleeding-edge technologies like artificial
intelligence (AI) and 5G hold the keys to the future and progress.
These lessons, which are also closely intertwined, will set the tone for 2020 and beyond.
AI and 5G technologies were in the spotlight when trade tensions between China and the United States
escalated last year.
They will remain as bargaining chips as the dispute continues into 2020 - a momentary truce
notwithstanding.
It's not hard to understand why AI and 5G were singled out - although on paper the concerns were of cyber
espionage and human rights. AI and 5G are expected to stage the next industrial revolution which will
welcome new realities like self-driving cars, remote surgery and smart cities complete with smart power
grids, e-surveillance and payments by facial scans. Nations with the keys to these technologies hold the
keys to the future.
1/6/2020 Underwater nurseries nurture corals and more in waters off Singapore's southern coast, Environment News & Top Stories - The Strait…
As expected, top Chinese tech firms including facial recognition specialists SenseTime and Yitu, video
surveillance tool maker Hikvision and 5G mobile equipment maker Huawei have been blocked from trading
with the US in what some experts believe will momentarily slow down China's technological progress.
The tech sanctions created their first casualty: the Huawei Mate 30 smartphone launched globally late last
year. It came without Google apps and services, but instead runs on Huawei's in-house developed
operating system.
The tech bans are not expected to be lifted any time soon, and any talks on lifting them are as flimsy as the
truce and the soon-to-be-signed trade deals. The stalemate will predictably continue into this year, creating
an uncertainty that may be a drag on progress.
Nations may have to deal with a situation in which systems developed by US companies may not work with
those created by Chinese firms - if the trade war leads to separate and incompatible technologies being
developed.
A splintered tech world is not totally unfamiliar to most people. China has already created an alternate
universe for apps and services behind its great firewall, designed to keep out foreign firms' influence on
domestic tech consumption.
For instance, Baidu is the equivalent of Google for online search activities in China, while Weibo rivals
micro-blogging platform Twitter. The Chinese have also created Renren, which is similar to Facebook.
If the events of 2019 taught China anything, it is to be self-reliant. As if heralding a future for an alternate
hardware universe with its own supply chain, Huawei has been ramping up production of 5G chips with
integrated modems to wean itself off foreign third parties like Intel, Qualcomm, Xilinx and Broadcom.
In other words, expect another bumpy year in 2020. If the world ends up with two hardware and software
ecosystems, connectivity and how business is transacted around the world could be affected.
But exciting times also lie ahead. Millions of dollars are being committed by governments in countries such
as Canada, China, France, Israel, Germany, South Korea, Japan and Singapore to invest in AI research and
talent.
1/6/2020 Underwater nurseries nurture corals and more in waters off Singapore's southern coast, Environment News & Top Stories - The Strait…
What is to be expected are breakthroughs in fields like medicine, for instance, to interpret computed
tomography scans or smartphone images to accurately predict one's likelihood of having lung cancer or
eye diseases. Early detection allows for early intervention. Plus, AI allows for greater efficiency as analysis
can be done at scale.
Just as Amazon, Airbnb and Uber disrupted the retail, hospitality and ride-hailing industries, respectively, it
is hoped that medical AI will do the same for the healthcare sector by bringing down operational costs and
widening its reach.
Millions of dollars will also be poured into 5G network rollouts to allow ultra-fast, no-lag connectivity to be
more widespread. This year, large-scale 5G commercial launches can be expected in South Korea, Japan,
China, the United States and Europe. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will showcase new uses of 5G, with live
broadcasts featuring 360-degree ultra-high definition footage of athletes' moves.
With so much connectivity and smartness in cities and devices strapped to consumers, efforts to better
address privacy, ethics and cyber security become more pressing. Issues of freedom and dignity will rise to
the fore as AI robots increasingly assume the role of social companions and caregivers for a growing elderly
population.
Another question that begs an answer is: Will granny's robot companion inspire more family
conversation or allow her kin to conveniently turn away from the demanding work of caring for her?
It is noteworthy that just a decade ago, technology was mostly relegated to a back-room function. The
disruptive force of technology is more keenly felt today than ever before. There is no turning back.
1/6/2020 Underwater nurseries nurture corals and more in waters off Singapore's southern coast, Environment News & Top Stories - The Strait…
The Straits Times Causes Week: Environment
ST Causes Week 2019: Getting
shoppers to think twice before buying to
cut waste
While many were eagerly awaiting the Black Friday sale last month to "check out" their virtual shopping carts,
undergraduate Woo Qiyun was trying to get shoppers here to think twice before they buy.
"I know people who would just scroll through social media and wonder what they should buy just because there is a
sale," said the 22-year-old environmental studies student, who has made a personal commitment not to buy new
clothes. "That got me thinking about how many people are actually buying things they don't need."
The National University of Singapore student decided to kick-start the White Monday movement in Singapore
as a way of combating "mindless consumerism". She did this with her friend - Ms Sammie Ng, a 22-year-old
Singaporean student studying at the University of Hong Kong.
The movement was originally started in Sweden two years ago with the aim of providing an "antidote" to the Black
Friday shopping hysteria. It was held on Nov 25, the Monday before the Black Friday sale.
In Singapore, the duo took to Instagram to urge people to buy only what they needed, and to support
businesses in the circular economy, such as thrift stores selling second-hand items, with the hashtag
#sgwhitemonday.
Said Ms Woo on her sustainability-themed Instagram account @theweirdandwild: "While the best is still to reduce, if
you gotta consume, try these - repair, reuse or rent!"
For Ms Woo, starting this campaign was her way of doing her part to combat climate change and reduce the feeling of
helplessness in tackling the issue.
She hopes to continue the White Monday campaign next year, and is also working with her peers to develop a
resource platform for sustainability-related information and tools, such as on the location of cobblers, tailors or
vegetarian food stalls in Singapore.
"Many people think climate change is an issue that will affect future generations. But that future is my future
too," said Ms Woo.