Singapore National Day Rally 2024: Employment-related changes including the enhancement of various parental leaves

The National Day Rally 2024 speech was delivered by the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lawrence Wong (“PM Wong”), on 18 August 2024.

In PM Wong’s National Day Rally 2024 speech, he raised various upcoming changes, which include certain employment-related changes.

A summary of the upcoming employment-related changes has been set out below:

1. Mandatory 4 weeks Paternity Leave for Eligible Fathers

• Current entitlement: Eligible fathers are entitled to 2 weeks of government paid paternity leave with the option for employers to grant an additional 2 weeks of government paid paternity leave on a voluntary basis.
• Upcoming changes with effect from 1 April 2025: The additional 2 weeks of government paid paternity leave (which employers currently have the option to offer this on a voluntary basis) will be made mandatory. As such, eligible fathers will be entitled to 4 weeks of government paid paternity leave.

2. Additional Shared Parental Leave

• Current entitlement: Eligible fathers may share up to 4 weeks of their spouse’s government paid maternity leave.
• Upcoming changes:
  • With effect from 1 April 2025: An additional 6 weeks of government paid shared parental leave will be provided on top of maternity leave to be shared between the parents.
  • With effect from 1 April 2026: The additional 6 weeks of government paid shared parental leave (to be in effect from 1 April 2025) will be increased to 10 weeks of government paid shared parental leave.  

3. SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme

A new SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme will give temporary financial support to those who have been retrenched.

Those who are affected are entitled to get up to S$6,000 for a period of up to 6 months while they undergo training, career coaching and job matching.

4. SkillsFuture Level-Up programme

A new training allowance under the SkillsFuture Level-Up programme will take effect in 2025. Every Singapore national aged 40 and above will receive an allowance of up to S$3,000 a month if they go for full-time training. The cap is 24 months’ allowance, amounting to S$72,000.

Further information on the upcoming changes can be found in PM Wong’s National Day Rally 2024 speech. 

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about this topic, please feel free to contact our employment team below.