SINGAPORE: The government has set aside S$600 million for the Skills Programme for Upgrading & Resilience (SPUR).

The amount will be spent ramping up the continuing education training centres to increase training places and for absentee payroll for two years.

These details were announced at a joint ministerial news conference on business financing and manpower upgrading to tackle the current economic downturn.

The Manpower Ministry emphasised that both employers and employees stand to benefit from SPUR.

Employers can enjoy higher course fee support for Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) or courses which are nationally certifiable courses.

The ministry said the course fee subsidy will be increased from the current 80 to 90 per cent, to a flat 90 per cent for rank and file courses.

For the course at the Professional, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) level, the course fee subsidy will be raised from the current 70 per cent to 80 per cent.

Employers will also receive higher absentee payroll under SPUR. For workers below 40 years of age, the cap will be raised from S$4 to S$6 per hour, while for those aged 40 and above and with "A" level qualifications and below, the cap will be raised from S$4.50 to S$6.80 per hour.

All these changes to the course fee support and absentee payroll will take effect from 1 December 2008.

A major portion of the training funds has been set aside to ramp up the training centres and also increasing training places in Singapore.

Stephen Lee, president, Singapore National Employers Federation, said: "We are tripling our executive training places from 3,500 to 10,000 next year. We encourage companies to use this downturn and slow period to up-skill and retrain their executives.

"We would also be introducing new programmes to help companies manage excess manpower and these include programmes like managing wage costs and also proper employee communications systems.

"Thirdly, we will help SMEs through direct advisories. For SMEs that do not have full fledged HR departments, we will give them advisories on how to use the set of guidelines and how to build their in-house system to cater to the downturn.

"So I think it's important that as we prepare for the downturn, we should use this period wisely so that when the upturn comes we will be in a better position."

The Manpower Ministry said SPUR has three key objectives. The first is to help companies reduce their manpower costs while saving jobs.

Companies can manage their excess manpower through a variety of ways - such as alternative work arrangements like shorter workweeks, temporary layoffs or sending workers for training and claiming absentee payroll.

Secondly, SPUR will help local workers - including those retrenched - with training. Workers can use this opportunity to upgrade their skills or learn new skills that will help them convert to new jobs.

And thirdly, SPUR will help both employers and workers build capabilities for the economic recovery. It will strengthen capabilities in the labour market and ensure that businesses and the workforce are prepared to seize the opportunities when the economy recovers.

Labour chief Lim Swee Say said he welcomes the measures by the government to cut costs and save jobs. He said this unique approach will keep unemployment numbers low, while maintaining trust between workers and employers.

He also explained why cutting jobs to save costs will not work in the long run. "In Singapore, if we cut jobs in order to save costs, even if we may achieve the right outcome for businesses, it will be (the) wrong outcome for workers.

"This will eventually turn into (a) lose-lose situation because trust will be weakened, cooperation will turn into confrontation. And this is not what we want to see happening in Singapore."

- CNA/yt/vm