Impact of Singaporeans' Reduced Mother Tongue Language Fluency on Career Opportunities with Foreign Firms

Ms See Jinli Jean asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether the reduced fluency in mother tongue languages amongst Singaporeans have impacted the opportunities for the hiring and promotion of Singaporeans by overseas firms with offices in Singapore; (b) if so, what is the extent of such opportunity loss; and (c) how does the Ministry plan to strengthen the ability of Singaporean workers to capture such opportunity.

We do not have data on how fluency of mother tongue languages (MTL) impact Singaporeans' hiring and promotion opportunities.

Hiring and promotion decisions are based on multiple factors, including the employees' skills relevant to the company's needs. The Ministry of Trade and Industry works closely with the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Manpower to ensure that our education and training programmes equip Singaporeans with industry-relevant and market-ready skills so that Singaporeans remain globally competitive and ready to seize good job opportunities.

On language skills, MOE supports every student to learn their MTL to as high a level as possible by providing a differentiated curriculum to cater to a wide range of abilities. In addition, SkillsFuture Singapore has worked with key partners to provide a range of language training programmes, including curated business language training programmes, for Singaporeans.