The Trade and Industry Ministry, together with several industry stakeholders, launched two new Industry Transformation Maps (ITM) recently for the hotel and food manufacturing sectors.
Both ITMs were drawn up in consultation with various industry players such as the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU), the Singapore Food Manufacturers’ Association (SFMA) and the Singapore Hotel Association.
Food Manufacturing ITM
Unveiled by Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Ms Sim Ann on 18 November 2016, the Food Manufacturing ITM aims to create some 2,000 new Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMET) jobs from now till 2020.
According to SPRING Singapore, knowledge in fields like food science, food production methods and quality assurance will be in high demand as the industry progresses.
A Skills Framework on current and emerging skills required for the sector is also expected to be completed by the end of 2017.
It will be developed by SPRING Singapore, SkillsFuture Singapore and Workforce Singapore.
“Many workers in the food manufacturing sector learn on the job. They have not gone through any form of structured training.
“With this Industry Transformation Map, we hope industry players will come together and invest in structured training,” said FDAWU General Secretary Tan Hock Soon.
Hotel Industry Transformation Map
The Hotel Industry Transformation Map, launched Map by Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S Iswaran on 21 November, will look at ways to improve productivity and work processes, nurture talent, deepen skills in the workforce and create 200 new PMET jobs annually until 2020.
“The union is stepping up our discussions with hotels on multi-skilling workers. As a result, our future workers will be skilled in more than one area. We hope this will help to blur the distinction between rank-and-file workers and PMEs in the sector,” said Mr Tan.
However, Minister Iswaran is concerned that not many locals are aware of the good career possibilities in the hotel industry. To counter this, there will be a Hotel Career Campaign in the first quarter of next year to raise awareness about jobs and careers in the hotel industry.
The Government plans to roll out a total of 23 Industry Transformation Maps for various sectors of the economy over the next two years.
Source: NTUC This Week
