Labour Members of Parliament (LMP) gave their support to the creation of two new statutory boards by the Manpower Ministry and Education Ministry after Parliament passed both the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (Amendment) Bill and the Skillsfuture Singapore Agency Bill on 16 August 2016.
The two new agencies are the Workforce Singapore (WSG) and the SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG).
WSG’s focus will be on helping individuals find jobs and build careers, strengthen the inclusiveness of Singapore’s workforce in the face of disruptive change, and help businesses create better quality jobs to attract and retain a stronger Singaporean core.
The SSG, on the other hand, will look to develop an integrated, high-quality and responsive education and training system, strengthen the culture of lifelong learning and pursuit of skills mastery, and foster employer recognition and ownership of skills through SkillsFuture.
Workforce Singapore
Speaking on WSG in his Parliamentary speech, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) and LMP Patrick Tay said that WSG needs to find ways to address and overcome the mismatch of skills, jobs and expectations of workers.
ASG Tay urged more employers to step forward to partner with sectoral committees to offer more Professionals Conversion Programme, given the tight labour situation.
He also suggested that the outreach efforts for the Career Support Programme (CSP) be strengthened as “there is a general lack of awareness on the CSP by both employers and employees alike despite being implemented in October last year and enhanced after the Committee of Supply this year.”
ASG Tay also reiterated his call for WSG to undertake a research study into non-time-based underemployment in Singapore.
“[This is so] that we are able to ascertain whether there is indeed this situation in Singapore with more Singaporeans being higher skilled and higher educated. The desired outcome is one where the potential of every worker is fully realised and maximised.”
Meanwhile, Young NTUC Director and LMP Desmond Choo said that although schemes like the CSP are helpful, he sees the need to expand options for workers as the number of professionals, managers and executives and technicians (PMETs) getting retrenched is increasing and it is “also getting harder to place them into the next jobs.”
To do this, Mr Choo suggested working with private placement companies to enhance the national employment facilitation capability.
Touching on strengthening the Singaporean core, Mr Choo suggested that the Manpower Ministry consider a more “nuanced and targeted approach” in implementing a quota for Employment Pass holders, rather than a broad sectoral approach.
Currently, the Manpower Ministry does not implement a Manpower quota for the Employment Pass category.
“This can highlight to companies that they need to commit to growing the Singaporean talent besides growing their businesses. Importantly, it allows our young Singaporeans to have a more level playing field,” he added.
SkillsFuture Singapore
LMP Melvin Yong urged the SSG to work towards encouraging mid-career PMEs to pursue interests beyond work, increasing awareness on courses available, and having more companies to come onboard the SkillsFuture initiative.
“The drive to succeed in our careers has to come from within ourselves, and we need to seek the support from all stakeholders to continually upgrade our skills, to pursue new skills. It is time to take ownership of our lifelong learning needs. It will be an investment with great rewards,” he said.
NTUC Central Committee member and LMP K Thanaletchimi urged for the Education Ministry to allow unions and licensing bodies to play an active role in working with young people who will soon enter the workforce.
“My hope and desire for each and every working person in Singapore are for them to be ever relevant with skills, walk the talk of lifelong learning and succeed through the test of times as the next wave of industrial and technological evolution sets in to prey upon us if we are left unguarded.
“Let us be well informed with what the future skills, future jobs and future careers are that we can look forward to and equip ourselves to be nimble and adaptable and ever ready to embrace change and brave the challenges of time,” she said.
