Impact of Impending Winding Down of Jobs Support Scheme on Retrenchment and Unemployment

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the lifting of travel restrictions in Singapore and globally is likely to be slow amidst the emergence of more transmissible strains of the COVID-19 virus. As such, the recovery of the aviation- and tourism-related sectors is expected to remain weak.

Besides the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), the Government has been providing targeted support to these sectors that are affected very badly. The Ministry of Transport introduced the $870 million OneAviation Support Package in February this year to enable aviation companies to preserve core capabilities and maintain Singapore’s position as an aviation hub. The Singapore Tourism Board launched a domestic tourism campaign and extended $320 million worth of SingapoRediscovers Vouchers to drive domestic tourism. The Workforce Singapore (WSG) has rolled out various Job Redesign Reskilling Programmes to support employers in these sectors to make use of the downtime to re-design jobs and re-skill their employees to take on new job roles. For firms in these sectors that are still able to expand local hiring, they can also tap on the Jobs Growth Incentive, which provides up to $54,000 per hire.

For affected workers who are looking to switch to new careers in other sectors, we will help them access suitable jobs and skills opportunities. Besides WSG’s Careers Connect and NTUC’s e2i career centres, WSG has set up the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Centres in all Housing and Development Board towns and deployed Careers Connect On-the-Go to bring career matching services closer to jobseekers. Jobseekers can also tap on digital resources available on WSG’s MyCareersFuture portal to search for suitable job opportunities.

The Government will continue to closely monitor the impact of COVID-19 on these sectors and are reviewing the provision of targeted support so that core capabilities can be preserved and that the sectors can emerge stronger through the eventual recovery.

Deputy Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister for his comprehensive answer. I have three clarifications. First, I note his point that the recovery in the aviation- and tourism-related sectors is likely to be weak. I would like to ask if he expects there to be permanent reduction in manpower requirements in these affected sectors.

The second clarification is on students in affected sectors. There are students studying hospitality, aerospace, aviation courses. They are likely to have graduated this year, last year and in 2022. They are likely to face an uncertain future. How can we better help them to pivot or do we still continue to encourage them to enter those sectors?

The third clarification would be on helping existing workers to transit. Would we be expected to provide grants, noting that many of these workers in these sectors tend to be older and find transition significantly more difficult because they have very limited runway left to transit to other sectors? Would there be a need for more concerted tripartite efforts to help them through their transition process?

I thank the hon Member Desmond Choo for his very pertinent questions. In terms of the reduction in manpower requirements, EDB and the different component agencies have worked with the Emerging Stronger Task Force and also leveraging on the Singapore Together Alliances for Action (AfAs), and identified certain core sectors within the aviation industry which they think would continue to remain very much the growth sectors; the exact details I am not at liberty to talk about at this particular Sitting. But I am sure in the weeks and months ahead more of the information would come out.

What we are trying to do is to ensure that as we come out of this particular pandemic and crisis, we want to be able to anchor our skillsets in that particular area and capture the growth that is going to come from that sector. Ostensibly, in the foreseeable five, 10 years ahead, once we clear this pandemic and go through this difficult period, we believe that the recovery will be quite strong. Given our hub status, given the credibility and also the strength of our workforce, we think it is one area we can continue to anchor on.

With regard to the third clarification on what kind of transition support, we urge all companies, particularly companies that are doing well, to tap on the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) which subsidises up to $54,000 per hire, depending on which age group you are, whether you are 40 years old and above, whether you have disabilities or you are an ex-offender; and also, for the young ones, where up to 25% of the monthly salary is subsidised, capped at a certain amount.

We urge companies in the growth sectors to continue to hire. This is a very good opportunity for companies to tap on our local Singaporeans as a workforce, the unemployed ones, the ones who are available and help them to pivot into different industries. The JGI scheme will expire in September 2021. So, please take advantage of that. In that transition, I believe that would put a lot of our fellow citizens and the companies themselves in good shape.

With regard to the other point about students being affected, indeed, this is also one of our concerns. What we are now doing is that we are expanding the courses to ensure that the graduates coming out from the Institutes of Higher Learning, the polytechnics, the Institute of Technical Education can be placed in sectors which we have identified as growth sectors, for instance, in wholesale trade, healthcare, finance and infocomm.

We also have got courses that help them to ensure that they are plugged in, that when they come on board to these companies, they are in a much better position to fit in and be able to adapt and take on whatever opportunities that may come their way.