SINGAPORE — Every Singaporean worker will be given the maximum support to upgrade his skills, while children from disadvantaged families can look forward to being given a helping hand even before they enter preschool, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.

Delivering the keynote address at the National Trades Union Congress’ (NTUC) Ordinary Delegates Conference, Mr Tharman laid out three “closely intertwined” strategies that the Republic has to stay focused on to ensure low unemployment and improvement in living standards of the average family.

First, Singapore has to ensure it has a thriving and competitive economy by always looking for opportunities to bring in high-quality new investments that can create better jobs, and ways to take advantage of the rising middle class in Asia.

Said Mr Tharman: “We can’t just sit and wait for the opportunities to come; we have to go out and look for them — our businesses, government working together with businesses, unions working together with businesses (have) to (look for and) ensure we can take these opportunities.”

Second, the country has to have quality growth. “It has to be growth based on productivity growth and not just (by) expanding the workforce — growth that all Singaporeans can benefit from, especially the average worker and the lower-income worker.”

Third, Singapore must remain an inclusive society through social policies, and not only via economic policies. “Social policies are very important as we go forward to keep that glue in our society … we are 700 sq km, rich and poor, people of different backgrounds; we’re all in this small island together,” said Mr Tharman.

In his 45-minute speech, he noted that the Government is spending “a very significant amount” to support families at the lower end of the income ladder.

Last year, the Government spent S$1.3 billion on various assistance schemes, including housing grants and healthcare subsidies.

“This is not a small, minute Government when it comes to supporting the poor. We have been very active in supporting them where it counts … Support a culture of responsibility and work — that’s our strategy,” said Mr Tharman.

Correction: The original article stated that Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam said “This is not a small, minute Government when it comes to supporting the poor”. This is incorrect. He said: “This is not a small-minded Government when it comes to supporting the poor”.This article was edited at 6:37pm on Oct 30, 2013.

While Singapore has achieved “remarkable social mobility” over 40 years, the minister said the Government has to work harder to ensure poverty and low incomes are not passed on from one generation to the next.

“So we have to find new ways, and some ways may seem a little bit crazy initially. Let’s try (them) out and see if (they) work; if (they) don’t, let’s try something else.

“Start with preschool and, in fact, start earlier than preschool,” he said. “The first few years of a child’s life, through community initiatives and with the support of the Government, let’s do what we can.”

On raising the wages of lower-income Singaporeans, Mr Tharman said the Government “will be as aggressive” as it takes to support upgrading on the job and outside of it, and upgrading by the firm.

He pointed that while the bottom 20 per cent of households have seen their incomes improve by 60 per cent over the past 20 years, some jobs have been “stuck at the low-wage level”.

The NTUC’s Progressive Wage Model, Mr Tharman noted, has already seen results in raising the salaries of indoor cleaners under government contracts to a minimum of S$1,000 a month. He added that the wage model will be taken “a step further” next year, although he did not give details.

“We will make sure this strategy works and the pay of our cleaners and security guards will go up.” While the Government is doing more, “we are trying to do it in a way that is sustainable”, said Mr Tharman.