More employers, job-seekers register with Jobs Bank

SINGAPORE — Since it was launched last year, the National Jobs Bank has had a healthy showing, with the number of registered employers and job-seekers increasing.

Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say told Parliament today (July 13) that almost 20,000 employers have registered, together with 110,000 local job-seekers, as Jobs Bank members as of end June.

This is an increase from previously-released figures as of end May, where some 19,000 employers and 104,000 individuals had registered as Jobs Bank users.

Mr Lim was responding to a question by Member of Parliament (MP) for West Coast GRC Foo Mee Har, who wanted to know whether the Employment Pass and Jobs Bank schemes can be further tightened to ensure that employers give due consideration to applications from qualified Singaporeans first.

In response to subsequent supplementary questions from six other MPs, Mr Lim reiterated a point made last week that companies with a weak Singaporean core of workers, relative to others in the same industry, will face closer scrutiny.

The Ministry of Manpower will require these companies to provide additional information, such as the number of Singaporean applicants and interviewees for vacancies, and their plans for developing their Singaporean core of workers.

The Jobs Bank was set up as part of the Fair Consideration Framework, which requires employers with businesses of 25 or more people to post job vacancies on the website for at least 14 days before applying for an Employment Pass.