Improving Pre-retrenchment Job Assistance Support and Strengthening Redeployment Support by Employers Receiving Public Grants

Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Acting Minister for Manpower (a) what proportion of retrenched workers received job-matching or career-conversion assistance before their last day of employment, for each quarter since January 2025; (b) whether the Ministry has plans to intervene earlier where firms are contemplating sizeable retrenchments; and (c) whether the Ministry will require employers receiving significant public grants to provide earlier notice and stronger redeployment support.

The Taskforce for Responsible Retrenchment and Employment Facilitation (Taskforce) actively reaches out to all retrenched local employees based on information provided in Mandatory Retrenchment Notification (MRN) submissions. In 2025, of all the companies who submitted MRNs before the retrenched employee's last working day, 74% provided employment facilitation to affected employees either through the Taskforce's employment facilitation services, companies' own channels, such as private outplacement firms, or a combination of both. Within these companies, 82% of all retrenched employees received employment facilitation. Regardless of whether companies receive any public grants, all employers with 10 or more workers are required to comply with the MRN requirement.

As part of the review of the Employment Act, the tripartite partners are studying ways to strengthen the ecosystem of support for retrenched workers, including encouraging earlier notification by employers to enable delivery of employment facilitation support and outplacement services at the earliest feasible opportunity. We will provide an update on the tripartite discussions in due course.