OLDER WORKERS (Improvement of job prospects)

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang asked the Minister for Manpower, besides the Skill Redevelopment Programme, whether the Ministry has other plans to help older workers to improve their job prospects.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, my Ministry is aware that older workers with lower skills face greater difficulties seeking re-employment. Hence, our skill upgrading programmes, as I explained earlier on, offer enhanced support and special incentives to the older workers. Besides the Skills Redevelopment Programme, we have the National Skills Recognition System (NSRS) and other initiatives funded by the Government to help older and less educated workers.

To facilitate skills upgrading for older workers who do not possess formal education, we introduced the National Skills Recognition System in September last year. This is an industry-driven framework to, firstly, develop and review standards for job-specific skills and, secondly, to accord recognition for standards achieved through national certification. There is no entry educational requirement for the National Skills Recognition System courses. As a result, older workers without formal education can achieve certified National Skills Recognition System standards that are recognised by the industry. Industries where NSRS training has been implemented include the hotel, marine, cleaning and call centre industries.

We have also allocated resources to help older and lower skilled workers acquire critical enabling skills which will enhance their employability. We will also be introducing a new programme called the "People for Jobs" Traineeship Programme to help older and lower skilled workers make the transition to new economic sectors.

The Minister for Trade and Industry's statement on the off-Budget measures will have more to say on these programmes.

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang (Cheng San): Sir, does the Ministry have any plans to further enhance job consultancy or employment assistance schemes for the older workers?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, the answer is yes. We will look at every possible way to provide better job assistance, especially to the older workers. As I have explained at the last Parliament sitting, we are even offering counselling services at our CareerLink@mom. There are group sessions, like workshop sessions, or even one-to-one counselling sessions for some of the older workers who need special assistance. We already have a mechanism to offer them this special counselling to help them to look for new employment.

Mr Ahmad Mohd Magad: Sir, I would like to ask the Minister whether his Ministry is doing anything to convince employers who are still resentful of recruiting older workers.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, through our contacts with the Singapore National Employers Federation, we are constantly promoting this message that employers should not rule out the option of employing older or mid-career workers. As you can see from the survey results which I gave just now, in fact, employers do recognise the benefits of putting their employees or new recruits through the Skills Redevelopment Training programmes. Increasingly, as more and more employers recognise the benefits of such skills training programmes and that, in fact, an older worker can make an equally good contribution to the company's effort, I am sure there will be more opportunities opening up for the older workers. But it has got to be a two-way effort, that is, the older workers have to make that extra effort to upgrade their skills so that they can continue to make a contribution to help the company to compete and, on the other hand, we will continue to promote the benefits of employing older workers.

Dr Tan Boon Wan (Ang Mo Kio): Sir, I would like to ask the Minister if he knows what the reasons are for the employers' reluctance to employ older workers and what can the older workers do to change the perception that employers may have of them of not being suitable for their work.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: There are many reasons why some employers are reluctant to employ older workers. One of the more commonly cited reasons is the lack of skills by the older workers, who are less able to do the job that an employer has in the company. This is an area that we can tackle and we are determined to tackle this through a wide variety of training programmes. But there are other more market reasons why some employers prefer a younger worker for a certain type of work. In some cases, we also have older workers who are less reluctant to take on the job. For instance, we have employers in the food manufacturing industry crying out for workers and they are prepared to take older workers, but older workers are not prepared to take the job because they are required to work on a 12-hour shift and to be in their duty stations for a fairly long period of time during their working hours. There are many reasons and we will have to overcome them over a period of time by constantly educating employers and, at the same time, upgrading the capability of our older workers so that they are in a better position to take on these jobs.

Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir): Sir, discrimination against older workers seems to be rather widespread. My experience is also similar to the other MPs. I have heard of complaints of people who are 40 years old and above who find it difficult to get a job. Sir, I would like to ask the Minister whether he is willing to legislate against discrimination against older workers.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, as I have explained earlier on, it is not a question of discrimination that some older workers encounter greater difficulties getting a job, in the sense that employers have ruled them out purely on age alone. There may be some companies that have done that, in which case obviously, they are missing out on opportunities to recruit workers that can help them. On the other hand, there are many situations where the older workers are not given the job simply because of a mismatch and this mismatch, as I explained earlier, can happen from both point of view. The employer may have an expectation of a certain level of skills which the older workers may not have, or the older workers may have certain expectations of the working environment that the employers are not able to provide. So legislation will not cure this problem. I think we better stay with a more flexible labour market where we can allow market forces to operate and employers can recruit the people who can contribute to the company.

As a Government, we will come in to help all those older workers who are facing greater difficulties by giving them extra assistance to help them to acquire the skills that are needed as the economy is restructured, as jobs become more demanding in terms of the skills content and technical capabilities that are required. In other words, we will try to make our older workers more employable.

Mr Hawazi Daipi: Would the Minister consider some incentive schemes to encourage employers to employ older workers, especially those who have picked up some form of skills?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, we have already done so in the Skills Redevelopment Programme by paying to the employer who sends an older worker above the age of 40 years for training 100% of his training cost, instead of 80%, for a younger worker. We are also prepared to pay a higher level of absentee payroll subsidy to the employers. Further enhancement to the existing incentives will be announced by my colleague, the Minister for Trade and Industry.