Manpower 21 plan is launched

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) was established in April 1998. One of its immediate tasks was to devise a national action plan to build a globally competitive workforce that would power Singapore into the 21st century knowledge economy.^[1]

The Manpower 21 study effort commenced on 4 June 1998 with the establishment of a steering committee, chaired by then MOM Permanent Secretary Tan Chin Nam, and four subject committees (Manpower Development; Manpower Unlimited; Manpower Industry; and Workplace Environment) that looked into specific areas of manpower planning and development.^[2]

Over the course of a year, more than 150 representatives from the private and public sectors, under the direction of the steering committee, worked across the subject committees to come up with proposals focusing on manpower planning, capability development, global talent attraction, improvements to the workplace environment and manpower industry.^[3] The study culminated in the Manpower 21 plan that was officially launched on 31 August 1999 by then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.^[4]

The Manpower 21 blueprint envisioned Singapore as a talent capital where ideas, knowledge and innovation come together to generate economic value and where people underpin Singapore’s competitive advantage.^[5] The Manpower 21: Vision of a Talent Capital report laid out the manpower challenges that Singapore would face in the knowledge age and called for urgent and decisive action in transforming manpower skills and practices to stay relevant in the new economy.^[6]

To that end, the plan put forward six strategies involving integrated manpower planning to better align manpower demand and supply; promoting lifelong learning for lifelong employability; drawing on foreign manpower to augment the talent pool; transforming the work environment to enhance productivity and optimise resource use; developing a vibrant manpower industry by enhancing manpower development, deployment and management; and lastly, forging stronger partnerships between the public, private and people sectors to realise the Manpower 21 vision.^[7]

References
1. Ahmad Osman. (1998, February 26). Plan for workers to be world-class in the 21^st century. The Straits Times, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
2. Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. (1998, June 4). Manpower 21: Singapore’s National Manpower Plan [Press release]. Retrieved December 22, 2015, from National Archives of Singapore website: http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/; Blueprint for globally competitive workforce. (1998, June 5). The Straits Times, p. 52. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
3. Singapore. Ministry of Manpower. (1999). Manpower 21: Vision of a Talent Capital (p. 1). Singapore: Ministry of Manpower. Call no.: RSING 331.12042095957 SIN
4. Blueprint on manpower out today. (1999, August 31). The Business Times, p. 14. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
5. Singapore. Ministry of Manpower, 1999, p. 18.
6. Singapore. Ministry of Manpower, pp. 7–8, 17.
7. Singapore. Ministry of Manpower, p. 18.