SINGAPORE: Some 53,000 Singaporeans found jobs through the Community Development Councils (CDCs) last year.

Even though that is just a third of the total group of job seekers, the number is still a 9 percent increase from two years ago.

These figures were revealed at a seminar held in conjunction with the CDCs' 10th anniversary.

The CDCs also managed to give out S$45.7 million in the form of food rations, vouchers and bursaries to help the less fortunate last year.

In the same year, more than 51,000 families and individuals received social assistance via the CDCs – more than four times the number of cases assisted in 2001.

The mayors said these numbers would rise over the next few years with Singapore's aging population and growing income gaps.

Several suggestions were made at the seminar to meet these challenges, which include setting up cooperatives and social enterprises to help the needy become more self-reliant.

The CDCs also said they would work on a package of life skills for the poor.

Volunteer rate, however, fell over the last three years – from 4,760 to just 3,260 in 2006.

Zainudin Nordin, mayor of Central Singapore CDC, said: "We are not too concerned about the drop in volunteer numbers. We're working with partners and corporations that will not only bring in resources but also their staff.

"Diary Farm, for example, has been working with us on a project for nine months, and the involvement of their staff – which is close to 7,000 people – is a way to measure volunteerism, but we didn't capture that number."


- CNA/so