If you’ve been reading news articles about the National Day Rally 2026, you might only recall “childcare leave”, “childcare leave” and, well, “childcare leave”.
But if you watch the rally, you’d know that there are other announcements, particularly ones that affect workers.
So, what should you know, as a worker in Singapore?
Well, here are some announcements that might affect you.
Singapore Intends to Expand Autonomous Vehicles But Transport Workers Should Not Worry
Autonomous vehicles, or AVs, are already being trialled in Singapore.
At NDR 2026, PM Wong highlighted the ongoing AV trial in Punggol and said Singapore intends to scale up the technology once it has been proven safe.
There is a practical reason for doing so.
Singapore is finding it harder to recruit bus captains, while two-thirds of taxi drivers are already aged 60 and above. AVs could therefore help Singapore meet growing transport demand despite these manpower constraints.
But there is an obvious question.
What happens to the people whose livelihoods currently depend on driving?
PM Wong acknowledged that this is a major concern for taxi and private-hire drivers. He said AVs would therefore be scaled up progressively, and adoption would not be allowed to move faster than Singapore’s ability to retrain affected workers, support them and help them move into new jobs.
This did not come out of nowhere.
Before AVs became a major NDR talking point, NTUC and its unions had already been gathering feedback from transport workers.
In a 2025 survey involving close to 500 bus captains and technicians, the National Transport Workers’ Union found that about one in three respondents were concerned that AVs could affect their jobs.
Job security was their biggest worry, followed by a possible drop in pay.
NTUC and NTWU subsequently held further engagements and focus group discussions with workers to understand what they actually do in their jobs and what future roles could look like.
For example, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Yeo Wan Ling has pointed out that bus captains do much more than physically drive a bus. Workers told NTUC that a significant part of their work involves dealing with commuters and handling situations on the ground.
That creates possibilities for redesigned roles which retain workers’ existing experience instead of asking them to start completely from zero.
For point-to-point drivers, potential AV-related roles raised by the Labour Movement include remote operators and safety operators.
The principle advocated by NTUC is that job redesign should begin before workers are displaced, with workers and unions involved in deciding how those future jobs should look.
In other words, let the workers learn new skills to work in new jobs first before vehicles start to drive themselves!
Some Transition Support Is Already Being Rolled Out
Anyways, this worker transition is not only a future NDR promise.
In July 2026, the Government announced a manpower transition package for taxi and private-hire drivers as Singapore prepares for wider AV adoption.
Among the measures are Career Conversion Programmes that can prepare drivers for roles such as AV safety operators, remote operators and fleet managers.
Drivers can also receive up to S$1,600 in training incentives to help offset the income they may lose while attending training.
That last bit is particularly important for drivers because, unlike someone earning a fixed monthly salary, every hour spent attending a course could also mean an hour when they are not earning fares.
Yeo said after the package was announced that the monetary support was something the Labour Movement had asked for.
So the goal is not merely to tell workers, “Technology is coming, please go and upskill.”
The training needs to lead somewhere.
This Is Not Just About Drivers
The same issue becomes much larger when you look at AI.
We all know that AI can help companies become more productive, automate repetitive tasks and create completely new types of work.
But there is no guarantee that economic growth automatically turns into more or better jobs for workers.
That is the idea behind what NTUC calls avoiding “jobless growth”.
In May 2026, NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng moved a parliamentary motion titled “An Artificial Intelligence Transition with No Jobless Growth”.
NTUC’s position was that Singapore needs to adopt AI to remain competitive, but companies and workers need to transform together so that productivity gains can translate into opportunities for Singaporeans.
This is particularly important for young workers wondering what happens when AI automates entry-level tasks, and for mid-career workers wondering whether years of experience will remain valuable in an AI-enabled workplace.
There Is Now a Tripartite Jobs Council for the AI Transition
One tangible result is the Tripartite Jobs Council, or TJC.
The council brings together the Ministry of Manpower, NTUC and the Singapore National Employers Federation.
If the word “tripartite” sounds unusually chim for something involving jobs, it simply refers to Singapore’s model of Government, unions and employers working together.
The TJC was initiated by NTUC, and MOM said in Parliament that the Government “supported wholeheartedly” NTUC’s proposal for the council.
Its work covers several parts of the AI transition.
Businesses can receive support to transform their operations and redesign jobs alongside AI adoption. Workers can receive AI training, while groups at greater risk of disruption can receive more targeted transition support.
The idea is to deal with job changes earlier rather than waiting until someone has already lost his or her job.
NTUC Has Also Launched AI-Ready SG
NTUC’s AI-Ready SG initiative, launched in February 2026, focuses on three things: helping workers gain relevant AI skills, helping companies transform their businesses and redesign jobs, and improving job matching so workers can move into new opportunities.
By the end of April, more than 4,000 workers had enrolled in AI training courses since the initiative was launched.
NTUC members can also receive support to access selected AI tools, giving workers a chance to actually use the technology instead of merely attending a course about it.
Economic Growth Still Has to Translate Into Good Jobs
There is a broader principle behind all these initiatives. Singapore still needs technology, investment and productive companies to grow its economy.
PM Wong said at NDR 2026 that more of Singapore’s future growth would have to come from technology and productivity, as the country’s labour force grows more slowly.
But the Labour Movement has argued that workers must have a meaningful share in that growth.
Earlier in August, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Patrick Tay also called for Singapore to strengthen its Singaporean Core as companies grow locally and abroad, including by giving Singaporeans fair opportunities to develop, take on leadership positions and build international careers.
So the question is not simply whether Singapore adopts AI, autonomous vehicles or whatever new technology appears next, because let’s face it: Singapore almost certainly will.
The bigger question is whether the worker whose job changes can see the next step before the old one disappears.
That is where NTUC’s role, together with employers and the Government through tripartism, comes in: bringing workers’ concerns from the ground into discussions on training, job redesign, transition support and ultimately, better jobs.
Because technological transformation can move very quickly, and the support for workers has to move with it!
This article is written in collaboration with NTUC.
