Debated in Parliament on 1 Oct 2018.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for Manpower (a) which are the top three sectors that have successfully used the Professional Conversion Programme to recruit mid-career jobseekers; and (b) what are the success factors.
Under the Adapt and Grow initiative, the Professional Conversion Programmes (PCPs) provide training and salary support to companies to hire and train individuals who are switching into new jobs or sectors. Workforce Singapore (WSG) currently offers over 100 PCPs in about 30 sectors.
In 2017, about 3,800 individuals were placed through PCPs. The top three sectors were Early Childhood Care and Education, General Manufacturing and Marine. These three sectors accounted for about one in three placements last year.
The success of PCPs depends chiefly on the participation of progressive employers who adopt a "plug-train-play" mindset. The employers on our PCPs are prepared to hire and train Singaporean workers 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.
In addition, about 500 of the PCP placements in 2017 came from PCPs where employers partnered WSG to retrain existing staff whose jobs were being phased out and redeploy them into new job roles within the same company. Redeployment PCPs are a new area of focus, given the increasing pace of technological disruption and company transformations. This requires companies to plan ahead for their workforce needs and work closely with WSG and the economic agencies on suitable retraining to be able to redeploy staff into new job roles.
PAPERCUTS