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SINGAPORE : Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong has said that Singapore's job market is healthy despite occasional fluctuations.
So he is renewing the call for more economically inactive women to return to work to take advantage of what he called a fairly good job market for Singaporeans. To encourage that, a new programme was launched on Wednesday.
41-year-old Catherine Selvasundari, a single mother of five, has been unemployed for nine months.
She heard about the new "Step out for Change" programme - to help economically inactive women better prepare themselves to re-enter the job market.
She said: "(The programme teaches us how to be) more effective in communications... (for example), how you dress up, how you approach your interviewer... We should work and we should have money for our future security."
However, women have larger concerns too when considering returning to work.
Halimah Yacob, Deputy Secretary-General, NTUC, said: "The women want to work in places near their homes. Secondly, they want to work during hours which would enable them to also take care of their family... They are looking for flexibility and part-time work."
Mr Gan said: "Some of these women, when they come back to the workforce, they need a bit more adjustment. To go into a full-time job may not be easy. Over time, when they get used to the working environment, they can then consider full-time employment "
Organisers said several existing programmes to encourage economically inactive women back to the workforce are already producing results. One of them is NTUC's Back To Work Programme.
Over the past few months, the labour movement has been working closely with nearly a hundred companies, and this has resulted in some 1,000 women rejoining the workforce. - CNA/ms
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