ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING

ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING:

(Interim measures to help lower income group): 1.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo asked the Acting Minister for Manpower what interim measures are in place to help the lower income group, especially the older workers, cope with the economic restructuring taking place in Singapore such as outsourcing and a shift towards the service economy.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Manpower (Mr Hawazi Daipi) (for the:

Acting Minister for Manpower): Sir, as our economy

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continues to restructure in response to the changing environment, new jobs will be created that will require new skills. In particular, more jobs will be created in the services sector which will require workers to have service skills.

To help low-wage and less-skilled Singaporeans cope with the changing jobs landscape, the Government has introduced several initiatives under the Workfare programme. The Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme was launched in 2007 to encourage older low-wage workers to work by supplementing their income and improving their retirement savings. So far, about 300,000 workers have received approximately $300 million for work done in 2007.

Another key thrust under Workfare is "Higher Skills for Better Jobs". The aim is to upgrade the skills of low-wage workers so that they can find higher value-added and better-paying jobs. This is done through expanding the Workforce Skills Qualification system (WSQ), promoting training in employability skills and providing more accessible training funding for workers.

For example, WDA has developed the WSQ Certificate in Generic Manufacturing Skills which trains and certifies a set of portable skills that are applicable across the manufacturing industries. This will allow a retrenched worker to certify his existing manufacturing skills, acquire and certify new skills required to transit to other growing areas in the manufacturing sector, such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals and petrol-chemicals.

To help Singaporeans move into the services sector, WDA has launched the Certified Service Professionals (CSP) programme to provide training in foundational service skills. This is especially useful for workers with little or

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no experience in the service sector. Furthermore, workers can also tap on the various WSQ training programmes for specific service industries such as tourism, retail, F&B, healthcare and community and social services. A total of 20,878 workers were trained in 2007 under the various WSQ programmes for services.

We have also worked closely with our tripartite partners, NTUC and SNEF, to introduce the Tripartite Advisory on Responsible Outsourcing Practices, which serves as a useful reference for end-user companies to ensure that the workers employed by their third-party contractors, receive basic employment terms, including CPF contributions and minimum employment benefits.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo (West Coast): Three supplementary questions. My first question is with regard to the Re-employment Act. I am just wondering whether, as it stands, it is sufficient to protect the older workers. There are fears actually among older workers that they might be discriminated against, especially when it comes to the payment of wages. I would like to have his comments here.

Secondly, I am also wondering how we can actually encourage employers to be more embracing of this older workforce. To date, are there statistics to show that indeed we have been quite successful in encouraging employers across the board to employ the older employees?

The third question really has got to do with the fact that, given the higher illiteracy of those in this higher age group, how are job creation opportunities and the relevant training programmes that are available being communicated to this group of people?

Mr Hawazi Daipi: Sir, the Re-employment Act will require companies to

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offer jobs to their workers by 2012, once the workers have reached their retirement age. This is promotional effort to encourage companies to do it now. In fact, through the Tripartite partners, we are trying to encourage companies to start doing it now, even before the Act kicks in. This is a long-term view in helping older workers but, in the meantime, there are schemes that are encouraging companies to employ older workers, including those who may not be employed for a long period of time of, say, six months or longer.

How to encourage older workers to be embraced by companies? Again, this is done through promotional efforts but, apart from that, we are also encouraging companies through programme like Flexi-Work, to employ older workers and those who have not been employed for some time, through part-time work. Through this scheme, employers stand to get support of up to $100,000 if they employ workers above 35 and keep them in the job for some time.

How do we communicate to older workers? There are various means through the mass media, in particular, and through self-help organisations and grassroots organisations. One big way in encouraging older workers to remain employed and to keep their job, is through the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS). $300 million dollars has been disbursed to about 300,000 workers. Information has been passed, through grassroots organisations, to encourage those self-employed who have not signed up for WIS to come onboard. Our long-term view is to encourage workers to work, to have a source of income to support their family and at the same time to protect their long-term interest into their retirement. And that is why we would like workers to come to work, encourage them to contribute to their Medisave and have some savings in their CPF and Medisave to see through their retirement.

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We will do whatever is necessary to reach out to more workers in future.

Mdm Halimah Yacob (Jurong): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask a follow-up question of the Senior Parliamentary Secretary. On the WIS scheme, would the Ministry review the scheme so as to exclude the overtime and bonus from the computation of $1,500 salary ceiling? Because including overtime and bonus is actually penalising workers who work hard and it, of course, is a disincentive for low-income and older workers.

Mr Hawazi Daipi: Sir, the WIS is a new scheme to replace the old Workfare Bonus Scheme. We said that we will review it in a few years and when it comes, we will take in feedback from MPs and grassroots organisations on what more that can be done, if necessary, to help older low-income workers.

Mr Speaker: Mdm Ho, last question.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo: I want to thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for his very comprehensive answer. But I just want to check whether we have statistics to show the extent of participation by employers in the re-employment of the older workforce. I appreciate the range of programmes available. It would seem that if there are employers who are keen to take the older workforce, they can go and apply to the available schemes. Is there any demonstrated effort on the part of MOM to engage employers to really "walk the talk", so to speak.

Mr Hawazi Daipi: Sir, yes, together with our tripartite partners, NTUC and SNEF, we reach out to employers to employ older workers, to train their older workers and to even employ older workers and those who have not been working for six months or longer, through part-time work. All these things are meant to help the low-income and low-educated Singaporeans who may need extra

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assistance by both the employers as well as the Government in making sure that they can be financially independent and can look after themselves after their retirement.