UNEMPLOYMENT AND SUCCESS RATE OF JOB PLACEMENTS

Mr Low Thia Khiang asked the Minister for Manpower (a) how many people were laid off as at the end of 1998; (b) what is the success rate of job placements; and (c) whether older workers will face long-term unemployment of up to a year or more.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: The latest preliminary estimates based on a survey of private sector establishments with at least 25 employees revealed that around 7,200 workers were retrenched in the fourth quarter of 1998, higher than the 6,000 estimated previously. This brings the retrenchment figure for the whole of 1998 to 28,300 workers, the highest ever recorded since the last economic recession in 1985, which saw 19,529 workers laid off.

The Ministry of Manpower provides employment assistance to all job seekers who are Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents. Owing to the economic downturn, the number of job seekers registered with the Ministry had quadrupled from 4,777 in 1997 to 19,784 in 1998.

Nevertheless, the Ministry was able to provide job referrals to about 78% of all registrants. A total of 4,182 job offers resulted from these referrals. However, not all job seekers took up the offers. Eventually, a total of 1,038, or 5.2% of all registrants, were successfully placed.

Whether older workers will face unemployment of up to a year or more is dependent on the performance of the economy. If the economy turns around within a year or two, such a scenario is unlikely. Of the locals retrenched in the first half of 1998, 65% were re-employed as at September 1998. Among those re-employed, the average time taken to obtain re-employment was 1.6 months. Older workers may face more difficulty e.g. only 52% of those in the age group 50 and above were re-employed, taking also on average 1.6 months to secure re-employment.

To better the older workers' re-employment prospects, my Ministry held many discussions with employers to urge them to look beyond the age factor when recruiting workers. We have emphasized to them that the older workers can be just as productive. We are also providing skill-upgrading for older workers who face the risk of retrenchment or who have been retrenched. For instance, the newly established Bukit Merah Skill Development Centre is currently training about 400 older workers including many who had been retrenched. Skill upgrading can help workers to remain employable. Retraining can facilitate their redeployment to new jobs in a different sector. We will provide more opportunities for upgrading and retraining so as to minimise the extent of structural unemployment in the years ahead.