MANPOWER PLANNING

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon asked the Minister for Trade and Industry whether our manpower planning met actual needs in 1988 and will meet those in the coming years.

The Minister for Trade and Industry (BG Lee Hsien Loong): Mr Speaker, Sir, last year, I explained to the House how the Ministry of Trade and Industry does manpower planning in Singapore. We try to predict the state of the economy 5 to 10 years ahead, anticipate what jobs will be in demand, and guess the number of places needed in each discipline.

In 1988, about 19,500 students graduated from NUS/NTI, the polytechnics and the VITB. Nearly 20,000. NUS and NTI together produced 4,750 graduates, 2.3% more than in 1987. One-fifth were graduates in engineering. There were 5,750 polytechnic graduates, 9% higher than in 1987. 80% of them were trained in the various engineering disciplines. 9,000 skilled workers graduated from the VITB, 2% more than in 1987.

With the strong economy, these skilled persons were readily absorbed by the labour market. Many received multiple job offers. The economy could have done with more graduates in the right disciplines, but we could not produce more for lack of qualified trainees.

We will endeavour to increase the output of skilled manpower year by year. University, polytechnic and VITB intakes are increasing. We should be able to meet our manpower needs in the coming years, although we will always be ready to absorb skilled persons from abroad.