Singapore can look forward to good year

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has declared this year a "good year", with Singapore emerging from the financial storm in a strong position.

In his May Day message, he urged Singaporeans to take the opportunity to push forward with improving productivity and transforming the economy.

Prime Minister Lee's optimism comes on the back of a revised growth forecast of 7 to 9 per cent for Singapore economy this year.

But he cautioned Singaporeans to see the remarkable performance in perspective.

The first-quarter growth of 13 per cent year on-year reflects the volatility of a small open economy.

And Mr Lee said some sectors like electronics and biomedical sciences expanded sharply but others had not done quite as well.

Prime Minister Lee believes that with everyone's concerted effort, Singapore can maintain its lead.

While firms push on with the productivity effort, workers need to improve and achieve greater mastery at their jobs.

Workers' upgrading is a marathon without a finish line, said Prime Minister Lee.

He noted that during the downturn last year, workers had taken the opportunity to upgrade their skills.

Mr Lee said this momentum must continue even as the economy has improved.

He noted that with the strong pickup, many companies are restoring the wage cuts while others are awarding bonuses and increments, depending on their improved performances.

He said these companies have remembered the sacrifices made by workers during the crisis.

These actions are strengthening the trust between workers and employers, said Prime Minister Lee.

He urged companies to work with unions to build up variable bonuses, and structure their wage systems to be more flexible over the longer term.

Mr Lee credited tripartism as a key competitive advantage in Singapore, and promised to continue to pay special attention to low-wage workers.

"Singapore has successfully tackled past challenges because of our strong tripartite partnership. Unions work with employers and the government to enlarge the pie so that all will have more to share," he said.

"Investors and businesses value highly our collaborative spirit, facing difficulties and solving problems together. Our track record of tripartism is a key competitive advantage that wins investments and brings in jobs for Singaporeans," added Mr Lee.

"Our union leaders understand what Singapore's prosperity, and our workers' well-being, depend upon. They know that there is no substitute for hard work, ingenuity and enterprise. They have done much to help workers understand the economic trends affecting them, and encourage them to go for retraining and upgrading," said Mr Lee.