Hui Weng Tat specializes in the impact of globalisation on labour markets, economic issues of migration, education, ageing and retirement, and labour market policies in Singapore. He has also taught in the Department of Economics at NUS before joining the LKY School in 2004. He has published in international labour and public economics journals, and co-edited and contributed to the book Singapore Economy in the 21st Century: Issues and Strategies (McGraw Hill). He has acted as a consultant to the Ministry of Manpower, the International Labour Organization, UNCTAD and was the Associate Research Fellow of the then Singapore Institute of Labour Studies from 1991-1994.

He also served as a resource person to the National Wages Council and was a member of the Economic Review Sub-Committee Workgroup on Wages, the Institute of Policy Studies Economic Restructuring Working Group and the Economic Strategies Committee Workgroup on Workforce Skills and Low Wage Workers. He has held various administrative appointments which include Deputy Director of the Public Policy Programme (1997 - 1998), Deputy and Acting Head of the Department of Economics (1998 - 2000), Vice Dean (Research & Graduate Studies) of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (2000 - 2003) and Vice Dean (Academic Affairs) of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (2004 - 2008) at the National University of Singapore.