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Everything Millennials Need to Know about the CFE in 60 Sec

2017-02-11 , 5:03 pm

What CFE stands for

To the uninitiated, CFE actually stands for the Committee on the Future Economy. (And it concerns you because you’ll be either graduating into this future economy or have to slog it out in this economy for the next few decades – eepps!)

What on earth it is all about

“The CFE aims to keep the Singapore economy competitive by helping to position Singapore for the future, as well as identify areas of growth with regard to regional and global developments.

“The CFE was set up last year to develop strategies to prepare the workforce for economic and social challenges, including digital disruption and an aging population.”

In short, making sure Singapore is competitive and helping you… stay employed!

How do they propose they do this

“To do this, the CFE will build on and update the 2010 Report of the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC), whose recommendations have enabled us to keep our economy competitive. But rapid changes in the global environment, technological change, and a slower labour force growth has presented us with new challenges and opportunities. Thus, it is timely for us to review what we are doing and to see how we can position ourselves better for the future.“

We pulled the above from their website but to us, it really just means they’ll come up with recommendations that we better follow. Afterall, they had over 80 discussions and focus groups, involving more than 1,000 people before coming up with it to help us stay ahead of the curve and overcome economic and social challenges. And if we don’t stay competitive… #jialatliao

The masked crusaders behind this “Committee”

The committee is a 30-member strong comprised of members from a variety of industries both locally and globally. A bit like how if there was an apocalypse, they only choose the best of the best to go hide in some cave in the French Alps just in case.

It is co-chaired by Minister for Finance Mr Heng Swee Keat and Minister for Trade and Industry Mr S Iswaran and Minister Mr Chan Chun Sing serves as Deputy Chairman.

1 ring to rule them all, 7 strategies to take Singapore forward

If reading the full report seems like mumbo jumbo to you… you’re not alone! It took us a while to digest all this but since it concerns our future, we figured it was worth a read. We found this infographic really helpful for summarising the 7 strategies that will help Singapore #levelup

You can also check out the video for a quick summary

Our 3 favourite takeaways

One – Lifelong learning
As much as some of us didn’t quite take to school, lifelong learning is so much more than just books. It’s continually upgrading your skillsets to be relevant to the Future Economy. You can start by using FutureSkills credit! And with the Future Jobs, Skills and Training capability of the Labour Movement up and running, there is more focus on identifying future job opportunities!

Two – Global outlook
Nope! This doesn’t give you an excuse to extend that grad trip by two months or quit work to lead the life of a backpacker. But it does mean that there would be resources to help many companies and institutes of higher learning link up with overseas partners in major innovation hubs. Globalisation is clearly the way forward!

Three – Disruption is the new normal
Technology is disrupting our life on a daily basis. The CFE hopes to harness this disruption instead by helping SMEs get with the digital game. Through strengthening the innovation ecosystem, many companies would also be able to scale up while startups will also benefit from cross-sharing of experience and ideas.

To conclude, the CFE recommendations report might look like a whole bunch of words for now but don’t forget that the Future Economy is where you’ll most likely end up so you best get a headstart! 😉