JOB VACANCIES IN THE CIVIL SERVICE

JOB VACANCIES IN THE CIVIL SERVICE:

(Number of applications and new hires): 7.

Mr Seah Kian Peng asked the Prime Minister in light of the Civil Service's

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announcement that it will be looking to fill 18,000 jobs in the next two years, whether he will provide an update on the number of new hires in the public service.

8.

Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Prime Minister if any of the 18,000 public sector jobs to be created are already available and, if so, (i) what publicity campaigns have been conducted to raise awareness of these job vacancies; (ii) how many of these jobs have been taken up; and (iii) how many people have applied so far.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence (Mr Teo Chee Hean) (for the Prime Minister): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission to take Question Nos. 7 and 8 together?

Mr Speaker: Yes.

Mr Teo Chee Hean: Mr Speaker, Sir, I informed the House in February this year that the Public Service expects to hire 18,000 persons over the next two years. I also informed Members that we would continue to hire people with the right skills, values and attitudes, and would not compromise standards.

From January to May this year, the Public Service and related agencies hired a total of 13,083 persons. This comprises 7,485 officers in the Ministries and statutory boards, 3,869 in the restructured hospitals, 1,438 in the universities and 291 kindergarten teachers. The numbers recruited include both fresh school leavers and mid-career officers.

The majority of those hired in the public sector were employed by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). We expect the total number recruited to continue to increase

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in the coming months as Government agencies are still actively recruiting.

To increase public awareness on the jobs available, Government agencies have been conducting recruitment talks, career fairs, career seminars and exhibitions. Agencies have also worked with partners like the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and NTUC to match suitable candidates in their database to public sector jobs. For example, recently in June, five Government agencies (LTA, NEA, MOM, WDA and MFA) partnered the Southwest Community Development Council (CDC) to hold a recruitment drive targeting Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians for 300 of their vacancies.

The public sector has a central job portal at www.vog.gov.sg . Job seekers can easily view vacancies for jobs across all Government agencies at this website and apply for jobs. The portal also contains information about upcoming recruitment events and career talks.

The public sector still has vacancies in the education and healthcare sectors, and in the security agencies like the Home Team and MINDEF. We welcome capable and committed Singaporeans to come forward to take up these positions.

Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade): Sir, two supplementary questions. I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for his answers. I am heartened by the high take-up rate. My first question is, of the 13,083 jobs that were offered, how many were taken up by Singaporeans and I presume the rest are PRs? And my second question is whether, this being the Singapore Public Service, consideration and priority can be given to Singaporean citizens for the remaining almost 5,000 jobs that we are continuing to fill?

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Mr Teo Chee Hean: Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not have the breakdown between Singapore citizens, PRs and non-Singapore citizens and PRs. But I would expect that the vast majority of the jobs would have gone to the citizens and, if not them, PRs. So I expect that will continue particularly in agencies like the Home Team and the Ministry of Defence which are very large employers.

Mr Seah Kian Peng: Sir, my second question is whether priority can be given to Singapore citizens.

Mr Teo Chee Hean: Mr Speaker, Sir, I think the answer to that question is embedded in my reply already, which is that most of these jobs are in any case requiring citizens and PRs to do that.

Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): Two supplementary questions for the Deputy Prime Minister. First, does the Minister envision the full 18,000 potential jobs to be filled and, second, would the Minister assure that those who have been offered jobs subscribe to the ethos of our Public Service?

Mr Teo Chee Hean: Mr Speaker, Sir, we do desire to fill those 18,000 jobs, whether or not the applicants who come forward will apply for these specific jobs that are vacant,

and whether they meet the standards are important criteria. As I said earlier, we do not intend to compromise on standards and, hence, it is possible that some of the jobs may still be unfilled, in spite of the fact that there may be applicants.

Mdm Halimah Yacob: Sir, just one supplementary question for the Deputy Prime Minister. Could he clarify whether the 13,000-plus jobs were to fill up existing vacancies or are these new jobs created by the public sector? And when the public sector says it wants to create 18,000, is it referring to 18,000 new jobs or does it include filling up of existing vacancies?

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Mr Teo Chee Hean: Some of the jobs are new, but some of the jobs are also to fill up existing vacancies.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: The feedback I have got from some residents is that some of these jobs are really not for those doing mid-career switches – those in their 40s and 50s, especially the senior ones. Some of them have tried to apply but, the teaching profession, for example, says it prefers younger teachers. I assume that some jobs in the Defence and Home Affairs Ministries may be targeted at the younger age range as well. So for senior Singaporeans, are there jobs that they could perhaps try to apply in the public service?

Mr Teo Chee Hean: In my understanding, the teaching service does employ quite a number of people who are basically doing career transitions, and the teaching service is one of the major employers out of these 18,000. I believe there are about 3,000 of them. So there is quite a considerable set of openings for these people.

The example that the Minister for Manpower just gave of a mid-career transition – of somebody who was in operations and then went into nursing - is another one such example where the public sector – in this case, a restructured hospital – has employed somebody in mid-career. So these things do go on, but I think that we should not look at the public service and say that we should reserve jobs for those who are doing mid-career switches because we must also consider that there are school leavers who are looking for jobs and we should not disadvantage them either.