THE threat of unemployment is looming on the horizon. One just has to turn on the television set, to hear and watch bad news from around the world.

What are Singaporeans doing about it?

Besides being more cost-conscious and tightening their belts, employers and employees have been rudely woken from a deep sleep - the sleep of complacency.

Over the years, some of us have become so content with our progress and achievements that we somehow forgot to take stock of our lives.

Those paper qualifications which were acquired years ago are also quietly depreciating in value, like stocks and properties in a bear market, as the knowledge and skills needed for today's jobs are changing rapidly.

Training, re-training and the upgrading of the workforce, or, to put a trendier spin on it, "human-capital investment", are making more sense now.

We should all consider lifelong learning more seriously.

Training providers like NTUC LearningHub have rolled out a series of programmes which can keep workers up-to-date with the skills needed in today's job market, while doing so in a way which is easy to grasp.

It is important to gain skills which can be transferred from one job to another.

After all, if machines can be modified to function better, so can humans.

Mr Edwin Celestine Tan

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