Debated in Parliament on 4 Mar 2019.
Ms Foo Mee Har asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the current number of companies who have tapped Government support for the Professional Conversion Programme, Career Support Programme and Special Employment Credit respectively; (b) what are the details of these companies that have benefited from the respective schemes; and (c) what needs to be done to onboard more companies to participate in these schemes.
Since the launch of Adapt and Grow (A&G) initiative in 2016, more than 2,000 companies have partnered with Workforce Singapore (WSG) to offer Professional Conversion Programmes (PCPs). These PCPs provide training and salary support to employers who hire and reskill mid-career jobseekers for PMET jobs. About eight in 10 of these companies are SMEs. The three sectors with the most participating companies are Education, Financial Services and General Manufacturing. There are currently over 100 PCPs in about 30 sectors, and new PCPs will be introduced for jobs such as blockchain professionals and embedded software developers.
To date, close to 2,000 companies have tapped on the Career Support Programme (CSP) since the programme was introduced in October 2015. The CSP provides salary support to encourage employers to hire long-term unemployed jobseekers or mature retrenched jobseekers in PMET jobs. About 7 in 10 of these companies are SMEs. The three sectors with the most participating companies are Infocomm and Media, Professional Services and Wholesale Trade.
The success of A&G programmes such as PCPs and the CSP depends on the willingness of employers to give opportunities to mid-career Singaporean workers, including those who may not have the full set of skills and experience preferred for the job, but have the potential to do the job with some effort in training or after a period of adjustment. We will press on with efforts to raise awareness among employers and work closely with tripartite partners and economic agencies to engage companies to participate in A&G programmes.
To support the employment of older workers, the Special Employment Credit (SEC) provides wage offsets of up to 11% to employers that hire older workers aged 55 and above, and earning up to $4,000 per month. The wage offsets are automatically disbursed to employers based on their CPF contributions for eligible employees. From 2017 to June 2018, SEC has benefited about 108,000 employers hiring close to 423,000 older workers. The top three sectors with the most employers receiving SEC are Food Services, Wholesale Trade, and Retail Trade.
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