JOB MATCHING SERVICES BY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COUNCILS

JOB MATCHING SERVICES BY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COUNCILS:

(Success rate): 10.

Dr Ahmad Mohd Magad asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the success rate of the Community Development Councils' (CDCs) job matching services in percentage terms; (b) how have the CDCs fared in terms of improving the waiting time for job seekers; (c) do all five CDCs have relatively similar success rates; and (d) if there are some CDCs with higher success rates, will the Ministry consider sharing their best practices with other CDCs.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Manpower (Mr Hawazi Daipi) (for the Minister for Manpower): Sir, the success rates and time taken to place a job seeker depend on many factors. For example, during the last economic downturn, many more sought help from the CDCs, including many skilled workers, but placement rates would have been low as less opportunities existed. Conversely, in a tight labour market, where jobs go after applicants, fewer persons approach

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the CDCs. But proportionately more low-skilled workers approach the CDCs for help after failed attempts on their own. It would be harder to place these workers who face structural unemployment and more time and effort to upgrade their skills and provide job coaching is required. Therefore, comparing results across periods or different CDCs or other Distributed Careerlink Network (DCN) partners would be less meaningful and need to be interpreted against the profile of applicants and economic conditions which can differ considerably. The DCN under WDA, of which the CDCs are part of, placed more than 22,000 job seekers in 2006, 60% of whom were aged 40 and above, and less than 20% had educational qualifications of 'O' levels and above. It is encouraging that 60% continue to stay in the job three months after placement. The CDCs typically place close to 30% of the job seekers who approach the CDCs. This placement rate is similar across the five CDCs.

WDA works with all the CDCs to constantly review and improve their processes and methodologies to enhance the effectiveness of the job centres. Besides sharing best practices among the CDCs and all other DCN job centres island-wide, WDA also organises regular training and case sharing sessions for the CDC and DCN staff. WDA also provides IT support to help CDCs better manage the information of job seekers, update their national database for job vacancies and organise the schedules of the Career Consultants so that they have more time to attend to the needs of each job seeker. Also, WDA has a system which tracks the placement and retention rates across the CDCs. This information can be used by the CDCs to monitor their performance.

Er Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio): Sir, according to the list of job vacancies given to me by the Central CDC every

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week, I notice that there are very few job vacancies for those aged 55 and above. Can the Senior Parliamentary Secretary please share with us whether there is anything being done to improve such a situation?

Mr Hawazi:

Daipi: Sir, the CDCs and all other DCN partners cater to the needs of all job seekers. The CDCs and the DCN also seek jobs from potential employers and they can be in the form of full-time jobs or part-time jobs. The needs of all the job seekers are assessed very carefully. Job seekers are counselled or advised on the nature of the job that they may be offered. They may be trained. Many CDCs are already placing them first and train them for the job so that they be gainfully employed and assisted so that they can keep the job long enough for them to get good income.

Overall, I would say that the placement rate for all job seekers across ages has been good but, of course, the older workers may find more difficulties in getting employed.

Mr Speaker: Mr Low, last question.

Mr Low Thia Khiang (Hougang): Sir, I would like to ask the SPS whether he is satisfied with the 30% of job placement rate by CDCs and whether his Ministry has done any review since the WDA has farmed out some of the jobs to the CDCs, in terms of response time and in terms of following up with the jobs. My feedback has not been favourable. So, I would like to ask the SPS whether they would consider a review and perhaps a more efficient system to help the CDCs which, I believe, may be a shortage of staff at times or professionals necessary to deal with job placement and job counselling.

Mr Hawazi Daipi: Sir, contrary to the comment made by Mr Low, the CDCs, together with WDA, constantly review their processes so that CDCs and other

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DCN partners can be more effective in helping the job seekers. Yes, about 30% of job seekers have been assisted with placement. But placement may depend on many factors - the employers, the employees, readiness to be employed among potential employees. What we want to do is to make sure that job seekers will get a good chance to get the first job first. Many CDCs, as I said earlier, want to enhance their services by training them after placement, to make sure that they can keep the job long enough so that they can earn good income. And 60% of the workers who have been placed have been able to keep their jobs for more than three months. So, I think, across the CDCs and DCN, we have been doing better but, of course, things can be done even better to ensure that services can benefit more job seekers.