Annual Skills Development Fund Disbursements for In-house On-the-job Training Subsidies Over 10 Years and Local Enterprise Support Plans

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Manpower (a) in each of the last 10 years, what is (i) the total amount disbursed from the Skills Development Fund to provide subsidies for in-house on-the-job training (OJT) and (ii) the total number of workers and companies that benefited; and (b) whether the Ministry has plans to increase OJT funding to address skills gaps and manpower shortages in local enterprises.

Since 2019, the Government has spent close to $1 billion from the Skills Development Fund and other funding sources to support broad-based training programmes with on-the-job training (OJT) components, such as Career Conversion Programmes, SkillsFuture Work-Study Programmes, as well as training and consultancy services provided under the National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning. Data prior to 2019 is unavailable. These efforts have benefited more than 70,000 workers and 20,000 companies. The annual breakdown of funding and number of beneficiaries are provided in Table 1 below. The Government is prepared to continue expanding support for OJT to meet the training needs of enterprises and help workers develop industry-relevant skills.