UNEMPLOYMENT SITUATION-<!--UNEMPLOYMENT SITUATION

Column: 3322

UNEMPLOYMENT SITUATION:

(Update):

6\. Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong asked the Acting Minister for Manpower if he will provide an update on (i) the unemployment situation, in particular the profile of workers affected; (ii) efforts to assist the

Column: 3323

unemployed and the retrenched to find jobs; and (iii) the availability of jobs.

The Acting Minister for Manpower (Mr Gan Kim Yong): Sir, with the economy falling into recession, the seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate rose to 2.5% in December 2008 from 2.2% in September 2008 and 1.7% a year ago. The resident unemployment rate increased for the fourth consecutive quarter to 3.7% in December 2008, from 3.3% in September 2008 and 2.4% in December 2007. An estimated 69,900 residents were unemployed in December 2008. The seasonally adjusted figure was 73,200, up from 65,500 in September 2008 and 46,200 in December 2007.

The impact of the slowdown was felt across all groups of workers. In December 2008, those with below secondary education formed the largest group, totalling 21,300 and constituting 31% amongst the unemployed. Sixteen thousand-two hundred or 23% of the unemployed had secondary education. Six thousand-four hundred or 9% were diploma holders while 14,800 or 21% were degree holders.

On age profile, workers aged 40 and above continued to form the largest group totalling 30,300 or 43% among the unemployed. Fifteen thousand-seven hundred or 23% were aged between 30 and 39 while 23,900 or 34% were aged below 30.

There are increasingly more PMETs affected by this recession, partly due to their increasing proportion in our workforce. For the whole of 2008, 6,200 PMETs were made redundant, forming 37% of the workers displaced, up from 31% in the year before.

MOM and WDA have been working closely with the Community Development Councils (CDCs) and the Employment and Employability Institute or e2i on a range of measures to help retrenched workers and the unemployed find jobs. Both e2i and

Column: 3324

WDA work with companies conducting retrenchment exercises to render assistance to retrenched workers to find new jobs. The Career Centres at the CDCs and NTUC's e2i provide a comprehensive suite of services, ranging from training and counselling to job matching for the job seekers. They cater to both rank and file as well as PMET job seekers under SPUR and the Professional Skills Programme announced recently.

As at end of February 2009, over 43,000 workers have been committed for SPUR training, including about 17,000 individuals who have signed up for SPUR courses at CET centres, ITEs and the five polytechnics. About one-third of these individuals are PMETs who signed up for training for jobs in the creative industries, community and social services, finance, landscape, process and manufacturing, tourism and educational services. In 2008, an estimated 13,300 unemployed locals found jobs through the assistance of the CDC Career Centres. This year will be more challenging but our Career Centres are gearing up to do more for the unemployed Singaporeans.

Sir, while we can expect job losses in the externally-orientated sectors, there are still opportunities in other sectors, such as construction, pharmaceuticals, health care, education, public administration, tourism, and so on, which are still hiring.

There will be at least 45,000 new jobs available over the next two years. This includes more than 20,000 jobs at the two Integrated Resorts; 18,000 jobs in the public sector; and some 6,000 from the pipeline of new investments, including 1,200 in clean technology and 900 in biomedical sciences. Many of these jobs are PMET jobs. There will also be new jobs in the retail, F&B and hospitality industries with the opening of new malls and hotels; as well as in the construction, security, childcare and interactive digital media industries.

Column: 3325

While we work with our tripartite partners to save jobs and help the unemployed find jobs, it is also important for us to continue to bring in new jobs. Therefore, we have to ensure that Singapore remains an attractive place for business and investments and our workforce remains competitive and flexible. This way, we can continue to create more opportunities for Singaporeans.

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong (Tampines): Sir, I am heartened to hear that there are many jobs in the pipeline. But I just want to ask the Minister what is the time taken now to place workers in these new jobs because I see an increasing number of PMETs coming to the MPS session looking for jobs and they said it is hard now for professionals to find a job in the market.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Sir, with the economic slowdown, I think it will take longer for many of the jobseekers to find new jobs and new opportunities. But it is also important for us to re-emphasise the need for them to go through training. As many of these workers have been in the same employment for many years, now that they have to switch jobs and look for new jobs, it is important to make sure we find ways to enhance their employability. There are many basic employment skills which some of the jobseekers do not possess. So I will encourage these jobseekers to approach our CDC Career Centres or they can approach e2i under NTUC. The career counsellors there will then be able to help these jobseekers more specifically – to identify their needs for training and opportunities in the various sectors. I think by doing so, we will then be able to enhance their employability and help them find jobs faster.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah): Sir, I would like to ask the

Column: 3326

Minister whether the Government has any specific plans to help fresh graduates join the labour market. In particular, are there more schemes like what MAS, SPRING and CDAC have recently announced to subsidise fresh graduates joining the labour market?

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Sir, I think a number of schemes have been announced recently. EDB, for example, has a number of schemes, including PREP-UP which is targeted at the Science and Technology graduates to retain their expertise within the industry and to capture the necessary manpower for our economy to continue to grow. MOM, together with the various agencies, will continue to explore ways to help graduates to secure employment and to find opportunities for them to continue to develop themselves, including further studies and further education.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad (Hong Kah): Minister, **** I noted in your speech that the number of PMETs and polytechnic holders and above who were retrenched last year was about 37%. Are we sufficiently geared to help this group? I know the e2i and WDA, in terms of the scope, have always been geared towards the lower end of the workers' spectrum but this time around, the challenges are different. The opportunity should be different and the way to tackle the strategy should be different as well.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Sir, indeed, I think the challenges faced by PMETs are quite different from the rank and file. We recognise that and, in fact, over the last few months we have been beefing up our CDC Career Centres, as well as our various Continuing Education and Training centres, so that we will be able to provide career counselling and support for the PMETs. I think many of these PMETs will also need to be flexible and they will have to consult our career consultants so that we can help them profile their needs, expertise and capabilities. I think by

Column: 3327

doing so, we will be able to enhance the matching process between the jobseekers and the jobs.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang): Sir, we have been hearing that there are jobs available again and again. But I think the real situation out there is that for those who are unemployed, they just find it very hard to find a job. I am just wondering what are the obstacles and what is preventing them from getting a job.

Second, I would like to ask the Acting Minister what is his projection in terms of unemployment rates for the next six to 12 months and would he like to comment on what is reported in the papers today by one analyst who said that our unemployment can hit 6% to 7%.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Sir, let me first answer the first question on obstacles to employment. As I mentioned earlier, I think the challenges faced by PMETs and the rank and file are quite different and we need to address them differently. From our experience, we find that some of the jobseekers really do not possess basic employability skills and we need to train them, and to help them acquire these skills. Some of the jobseekers may need to be prepared to switch industry because the industry they were in was no longer growing so they have to look for opportunities in other industries. This conversion process will also take sometime and we will continue to help them to do so.

There are also jobseekers who are less flexible and we need to help them and encourage them to be more flexible. I will just give Members an example. I think we read in the newspapers over the weekend that the bus companies are looking for bus captains and bus leaders. They have, I think, 280 vacancies, 220 applied and only 77 turned up for interview. I think jobs are still available at different levels and different categories of jobs. If we are

Column: 3328

more flexible, we will encourage our jobseekers to be more flexible and we will be able to help them find jobs faster.

With regard to the second question on unemployment rate, I have mentioned repeatedly that rather than focusing on projection and estimate, it is more important for MOM, our various agencies and tripartite partners to focus on the ground on helping individual jobseekers find jobs. So we have been working together through Jobs Credit as well as through the SPUR programme to minimise job losses. Whenever there are job losses, we find different ways to help those that are affected so that they can find jobs faster, and we also work together to give them training and upgrade so as to enhance their employability. I think this is the focus of the Ministry.