With hiring slowing, white-collar workers to get more support
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — More white-collar workers will get greater support in the job market, with higher wage subsidies for firms taking on these employees.
Under the Career Support Programme (CSP), wage support will be extended to cover up to 18 months for mature PMETs out of a job for at least a year. The Professional Conversion Programme’s (PCP) salary cap, meanwhile, will be doubled to S$4,000 a month — and higher, at S$6,000, for older PMETs and those jobless for at least six months.
Speaking during the debate on his ministry’s budget on Monday (March 6), Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say noted that PMETs are facing “a new bottleneck”, during this period of economic transition, with hiring slowing.
“Even though there is demand for manpower to meet future needs, in some sectors, companies are holding back hiring due to business uncertainty in the immediate term,” he said.
Other changes to the CSP include higher tiers of wage support for mature PMETs — aged 40 and above — jobless for a year or more, from April 1. Currently, such workers must be aged 50 and above and have been laid off or unemployed for at least half a year to qualify.
With the change, the Government will, for example, foot half the wage bill for mature PMETs (those at least 40 years old) for the first six months with a cap of S$3,500 a month, up from the current 40-per-cent wage support capped at S$2,800 a month.
An extra tier of help — beyond a year — will be offered for these PMETs at 20 per cent of the wage bill (capped at S$1,400 a month) for six months.
Meanwhile, the Government will also extend wage support to younger PMETs below 40 who are out of a job for six months or more, even if they had not been laid off — currently both conditions must be met.
With the changes, salary support for Singaporean PMETs under the CSP will be bumped up to as much as S$42,000 over a maximum of 18 months.
To get more small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on board, the Government will also lower the qualifying monthly salary for the CSP to S$3,600, from S$4,000. PMETs can also be hired for overseas job assignments, so long as they fulfil the CSP’s criteria.
Mr Lim also shared more details on the new Attach-and-Train initiative, which will be rolled out under the PCP. The Government will work with industry partners to select participants for training and work attachments in growth sectors where firms may not be ready to hire yet.
It will be piloted in the logistics sector, and the MOM is also exploring introducing it to the healthcare, information and communications technology, and biologics industries.
While placing participants into jobs is not compulsory under the Attach-and-Train PCP, employers are encouraged to do so for those who have performed well.
Workforce Singapore will provide participants with a training allowance of between 50 and 70 per cent of prevailing wages for the jobs they train for, capped at S$4,000 a month. The hosting employer will also co-fund an additional 10 per cent of the prevailing salaries, at a minimum.
The Government will also ramp up salary support for PMETs undergoing the PCP. Monthly salary caps for the 70-per-cent wage support will be doubled from S$2,000 to S$4,000 from Apr 1, for instance.
Apart from PMETs, rank-and-file workers will also benefit. Training allowance under the Work Trial initiative will be extended up to three months, up from the current 80 hours.
If workers jobless for at least a year land a job after the trial, employers will receive 30-per-cent wage support, with a S$600 monthly cap for the first six months of employment.
Mr Lim on Monday said that the Government has succeeded in helping about seven in 10 rank-and-file jobseekers return to work. One such worker, whom he called “Ms B”, was a 50-year-old single-income parent supporting two children and an elderly mother, which requires her to work near her home and knock off at 5pm daily.
Beset with a brain tumour that is under control, Ms B sought help at a career centre after searching in vain for a job for 10 months.
Despite taking ill, she pressed on and finished a Workforce Skills Qualifications higher certificate in healthcare support. Choking up as he recounted the story, Mr Lim said: “Because of her determination and willingness to learn and improve herself, today she’s working as a clinic assistant.”
