Debated in Parliament on 6 Jan 2020.
Mr Pritam Singh asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry will detail the number of new jobs filled by Singaporeans, PRs and foreigners respectively for each industry covered by the Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) henceforth; and (b) whether it can provide these statistics for each ITM since the inception of the respective ITMs to date.
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The 23 Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) were launched progressively from late 2016, with the majority launched in 2018. Changes in workforce profile depend on a variety of factors which can be structural or cyclical in nature. To assess the impact of ITMs, it will be more meaningful to look at employment outcomes over the medium and long terms.
Nonetheless, we can look at employment change across the 23 ITM sectors from 2015, before the launch of ITMs, to 2018. Between 2015 and 2018, total employment in these sectors, excluding foreign domestic workers grew by 19,500. This was made up of: (a) an increase in employment of Singapore Citizens (SCs) by 39,300; (b) increase in employment of Permanent Residents (PRs) by 8,600; and (c) a decrease in employment of foreigners by 28,500.
These numbers are encouraging because we have been making the effort to secure jobs for Singaporeans. We are making progress on this front. Singaporeans have consistently worked hard to update our skills and stay relevant. Between 2015 and 2018, the training participation rate of the resident labour force aged from 15 to 64 increased from 35% to 48%, which shows that more Singaporeans are upgrading and updating their skills. From 2016 until September 2019, Workforce Singapore and NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) have also helped 93,000 locals move into new jobs through the Adapt and Grow initiative.
PAPERCUTS