Lee Boon Yang
Singapore
“6 The other guidelines are that there must be a post office sited within 5 km of every private residential estate and within 1 km of any commercial or industrial estate. MAID LEVY CONCESSION (Applications by the disabled) 32.”
“Madam, can I quickly respond to the point on assistive technology? Certainly this is an area of interest. We cannot say that we have the capability at this juncture but we will certainly look into what is possible and work with our ICT sector.”
“Nevertheless, if the spouse of the homemaker is working, he will be eligible for WIS if he satisfies the criteria. Husbands of homemakers are further eligible for tax relief.”
“Sir, I do not think it is quite correct to say that we always expect our own artists to perform for free or do public service. There are, of course, occasions where we do seek Singapore artists and arts companies to contribute to the national causes. For instance, when we went international for Singapore Season in China.”
“Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Minister for National Development (a) what checks does the Ministry or the National Environment Agency have in place to prevent mistaken payments to hawkers who cease operations due to upgrading works at hawker centers; (b) how did the mistaken payment of $18,000 to Mdm Lee Ah Muey come about; and (c) what will the…”
“While it was also true that initially the reaction or the response of the licensing authority was that foreigners should not participate in such an event at the Speakers' Corner - because there is already an existing prohibition against any foreigners taking part in any activities at the Speakers' Corner - subsequent assessment resulted i…”
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“Some reasons commonly cited include higher wage cost resulting from our seniority-based wage system, lack of skills to meet the needs of new jobs and employers' preference for younger workers who are perceived to be more trainable and adaptable. My Ministry has put in extra efforts to assist older workers. To help them pick up new skills, we have provided higher level of funding support for the training of older workers. Last year, we also introduced the People for Jobs Traineeship Programme to redeploy unemployed workers aged 40 years and above to different industries or jobs. To date, close to 2,000 older unemployed Singaporeans have found jobs under this programme. The Ministry had received a few complaints from older workers regarding age discrimination. In 2000 and 2001, there were 4 and 5 complaints respectively. These complaints were investigated and where there were discriminatory practices, the employers concerned were warned and advised to refrain from adopting such practices. PRIMARY CARE PARTNERSHIP SCHEME 8. Mr Andy Gan Lai Chiang asked the Minister for Health (a) how many Singaporeans have qualified under the Primary Care Partnership Scheme since it was implemented on 1st October 2000 as a pilot scheme and extended on 1st March 2002; (b) how much has the amount of Government subsidy increased as a result of this scheme; and (c) what are the plans to expand this scheme to cover more people in need. 9. Mr Gan Kim Yong asked the Minister for Health (a) whether the Primary Care Partnership Scheme has been effective and, if so, (b) whether his Ministry will consider expanding the Scheme so that more residents may be eligible to benefit from it.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, over the past months, my Ministry has been working closely with our partners, including NTUC, Community Development Councils and self-help groups, to provide workers with job matching and training assistance. These efforts include job referral services at my Ministry and our partners, job fairs and traineeship programmes for the unemployed. On average, 1,200 unemployed Singaporeans, including 600 aged 40 and above are successfully placed each month. At my Ministry's career centre, for example, about 60% to 70% of the job seekers would receive referrals for job interviews with prospective employers. Close to 15% would successfully find jobs through our referral services. However, for job seekers aged 40 years and above, the placement rate (that is, the rate at which they obtain their jobs through our direct assistance) is significantly lower; it is only 8%. This shows that older unemployed workers face greater challenges in their job search. We also encourage unemployed workers to explore other avenues in their job search and not just wait for us to find them a job. Hence, some job seekers who come to us initially would subsequently find jobs through their own efforts. Overall, 59% of Singaporeans aged 40 and above retrenched in the first 9 months of 2001 were re-employed by the end of 2001. This is lower than the national average of 65% and the average of 70% for Singaporeans aged below 40. Again, these numbers indicate the greater difficulties faced by older workers. The problem faced by older workers is a multi-faceted one.”
“The profile of the unemployed residents is tabulated below: Profile of Unemployed Residents, 1997 - 2001 (Non-seasonally Adjusted, as at December) Characteristics 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % Unemployed Residents 34,900 100.0 76,800 100.0 55,700 100.0 54,500 100.0 93,700 100.0 Sex Males 21,800 62.4 49,500 64.4 35,500 63.8 37,400 68.5 57,200 61.1 Females 13,100 37.6 27,300 35.6 20,100 36.2 17,200 31.5 36,400 38.9 Marital Status Single 22,800 65.4 41,500 54.0 28,000 50.2 30,400 55.7 46,800 50.0 Married 10,400 29.7 32,200 41.9 24,500 43.9 20,000 36.6 43,000 45.9 Widowed/Divorced 1,700 4.9 3,100 4.1 3,300 5.9 4,200 7.7 3,800 4.1 Age Group 15 - 29 15,900 45.5 24,600 32.1 18,500 33.1 19,900 36.5 30,100 32.1 30 - 39 7,400 21.2 21,300 27.7 13,500 24.2 11,800 21.7 25,500 27.2 40 - 49 7,300 21.0 20,900 27.2 14,500 25.9 14,500 26.7 21,600 23.1 50 & over 4,300 12.3 10,000 13.0 9,300 16.7 8,300 15.2 16,500 17.6 Highest Qualification Attained Below 15,900 45.5 37,300 48.6 25,700 46.2 25,200 46.3 38,200 40.8 Secondary Secondary 8,900 25.6 21,700 28.3 14,900 26.7 14,900 27.2 26,500 28.3 Post 3,500 10.1 3,400 4.4 3,500 6.3 2,700 5.0 8,100 8.7 Secondary Tertiary 6,600 18.8 14,300 18.7 11,600 20.8 11,700 21.5 20,800 22.2 * Data in the table may not add up to the total due to rounding. Source: Labour Force Survey, MOM HDB RESTRICTIONS ON AGED PARENTS 6. Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong asked the Minister for National Development if the Housing and Development Board (HDB) will remove restrictions on the rental of whole HDB units to allow aged parents who opt to stay with their children, to earn extra income.”
“We have them in my Ministry - dispute settlement mechanism to deal with unionised workers and mechanism to deal with individual workers who are not unionised. We should also take advantage of our strong tripartite relationship to continue to address any instances of discriminatory practices and if there are, in fact, cases of discrimination, we are able to use mediation and conciliation to help the workers to overcome the difficulties. This is what we should continue to do. What is more important, at this juncture, as we set out to reinvent our economy, is to get economic growth going, bring in more investments, create more good and secure jobs for our people. If we succeed to do that, then we have employment opportunities for all Singaporeans, men or women.”
“Hence, in aggregate terms, women in the workforce have a shorter working experience. With our seniority-based wage system, it is not surprising that, in aggregate terms, women also earn lower wages. If we look at the younger age group of 25-29, the wage difference between women and men is almost insignificant. Hence, young female professionals and managers have comparable gross wages to their male counterparts. The difference here is only an insignificant 2%. In the case of sales and service workers, young females earn 8% more than their male counterparts. So we cannot conclude, on the basis of the figures shown in Census 2000, that women had been discriminated somehow and ended up earning lower wages than men. Sir, more and more women are receiving better and higher education, and more and more are also opting to remain in the workforce after marriage. Women are also moving up the occupational ladder and increasingly holding higher level jobs. So we can expect this gap at the aggregate level to narrow in the future. I would not rule out the possibility of an Equal Opportunity Commission sometime in the future. Nothing remains static. The environment will change. The circumstances may change. But I am just asking for us to consider whether we should be introducing such a mechanism at this moment. Is this best suited for us as we reinvent our economy? Is it the mechanism which will help us to regain our competitiveness and that it will help us to enter new areas or carve out new niches for ourselves in this much more competitive globalised economy? I would suggest that we should be careful about introducing such an institution or concept at this juncture. Let us use our existing dispute settlement mechanism.”
“As more and more investments are drawn to China and elsewhere, should we be introducing more legislation to disadvantage ourselves? Sir, the hon. Member has also made the observation that more women are facing unemployment. This was based on the Census 2000 survey. We should look at this in proper perspective. In fact, the latest labour force survey in December 2001 showed that female unemployment rate, non-seasonally adjusted, was 5.3%, while that for men was 5.8%. I understand that over the past few years the trend actually has been that the unemployment rate is slightly higher for men than for women. Sir, I am not suggesting that there is no concern or that there is no need for us to be concerned about more women being unemployed. In fact, I am concerned, because most of the retrenchments in the last two years or so came from the manufacturing industries, and the worst hit was, of course, the electronics industry. And here, in the electronics industry, you find many more women workers. Hence, it is also not surprising to see many more women being retrenched during this downturn. But this has nothing to do with gender or with discrimination. It is a reflection of the labour market development and the change in economic circumstances. Sir, with regard to wages, the hon. Member mentioned that women, on the average, earn only 78% of men's wages. It is true that, in aggregate terms, women's wages are generally lower than men's. But this is because more women, especially in the older age group, are holding lower paid jobs due to their lower qualifications and skills as compared to their male counterparts. Another reason is that, in fact, many women leave the labour force after marriage and birth of children.”
“Such a situation would be harmful to our harmonious labour relations climate, which is built on the basis that employment disputes should be amicably resolved through consultation and conciliation, with the intervention of the trade unions and the Ministry of Manpower, if necessary. Sir, the hon. Member felt that we are unnecessarily worried by labour market rigidities, if an Equal Opportunity Commission is created. In the UK, it has been shown that providing special protection to older workers through legislation could, in fact, reinforce societal and employers' perception that older workers are less receptive to training and upgrading, less productive and more inflexible to changes and, hence, needed legal protection. So, instead of helping older workers, such legislation may well have given older workers an unfair branding. Likewise, having laws to compel employers to employ on the basis of gender distribution could create even more difficulties for us. Here, I am reminded that many production operators in our electronic factories are women. Is this an instance of discrimination against men, or is it because employers find more women willing and suited for the particular jobs available? Should we be insisting that these employers employ more men for such jobs? Sir, the negative effects of protective employment legislation were highlighted in a comprehensive OECD study in 1994 and validated in a subsequent study in 1999. These studies revealed that rigid and over-protective labour legislation undermined the efficient functioning of the labour market, stifled entrepreneurship and hindered job creation. Hence, we must learn from the experience of these countries and avoid these pitfalls.”
“What had happened was that such legislation gave rise to labour market rigidities and undermined efforts on employment creation. It is true that in the United States, legislation had brought about a large number of discrimination claims. But a great majority could not be substantiated, and many ended up without a solution. Sir, based on the report of the US' Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for the year 2000, a total of 96,000 allegations or claims of discriminations of all sorts in employment was received, of which, 16,008 or 20% were related to discrimination on the ground of age. Of the 16,008 age-discrimination claims, 8.2% were deemed to have reasonable cause, some of which resulted in successful conciliation. Only 34 cases or 0.2% justified the Commission pursuing direct suits or jointly filing law suits with complainants. Sir, this would suggest that legislation only deals with a very, very small proportion of the total claims, whereas conciliation or mediation was far more effective and could result in mutually satisfactory solutions in many more cases. Sir, this is in fact the strategy that we have adopted. We have and will continue to offer a conciliation service for workers who feel that their grievances have not been fairly dealt with, or that they have, in some way or other, been discriminated at their workplace. Sir, the major disadvantage of a legislative approach is a change in the workplace culture. It creates a mood for employment disputes to be tackled through litigation, instead of being resolved between the parties concerned.”
“In 1999, we had a spate of complaints from members of the Singaporean public against discriminatory job advertisements. There were some advertisements specifying that the employers only wanted Chinese, or some race was specified, in these job advertisements. There were calls for a body similar to an Equal Opportunity Commission to ensure equality in recruitment. My Ministry took the initiative to form a tripartite committee comprising representatives from the Singapore National Employers Federation, the NTUC and, of course, from my Ministry, to address the issue of discriminatory job advertisements. The committee was also asked to consider the desirability of introducing legislation to outlaw such practices. The committee had a careful study, many meetings were held, and they recommended that instead of resorting to anti-discriminatory laws, a promotional and educational approach be adopted. And, in line with this approach, the tripartite committee formulated a set of guidelines on non-discriminatory job advertisements to advise employers on how job advertisements should be presented using objective factors such as skills, qualifications, attributes and individual capabilities that are required for the job. With the support of the tripartite partners and the major newspaper publishers, the incidence of discriminatory job advertisements has been drastically reduced from more than 30% of the job advertisements carried in the newspapers in 1999 to less than 1% today. The recalcitrant minority is being tackled individually as and when the advertisements appear. Sir, experience in other countries has shown that legislation on equal opportunities may not have achieved the objective of eliminating discrimination in employment.”
“We already have programmes such as the Skills Redevelopment Programme, National Skills Recognition System, National IT Literacy Programme and others which are running at full speed. These programmes are focused on bringing the most vulnerable group of workers, ie, the older and the lower-skilled workers, up to the basic levels required for the new jobs. We will develop new programmes to reinforce those in place and also to reach out to more workers facing the threat of displacement as the economy changes gear. Mr Speaker, Sir, allow me to respond to the hon. Member Ms Irene Ng who yesterday spoke on the need for an Equal Opportunity Commission, and here I would like to say that I take to heart what the hon. Member Mr Tan Soo Khoon mentioned earlier about Ministers bristling at suggestions from the Backbench. I am certainly not bristling at the suggestion. I just want to take this opportunity to point out some pros and cons as we consider an Equal Opportunity Commission or such like. First of all, I have to state that I agree wholeheartedly with the hon. Member that each Singaporean should have equal opportunities and be subjected to the same meritocratic process to recognise and to reward contributions to the economy. Sir, as the hon. Member noted, the principle of equality before the law is enshrined in our Constitution. The specific prohibitions of discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, descent or place of birth are stipulated in Article 12(2) of the Constitution. While our employment laws do not have specific provisions against gender or other form of discrimination, equal opportunity and the principle of meritocracy are extensively practised. So do we need an Equal Opportunity Commission or Council? Sir, let me recount a previous experience on this issue.”
“Of course, wages are at a fraction of what engineers would be paid in Singapore. But what was more telling than the fact that they had an ample supply of ready and well-trained workers was that, within this wafer fabrication plant, there was in effect a lifelong learning institution. As we were shown around, we saw classrooms and lecture theatres, and there were workers and engineers who were off-duty, not working, but learning. Their employees within the wafer fabrication plant were able to sign up for a variety of skills upgrading and even professional courses. Employees were not just satisfied with landing a good job, but they were all aiming higher. Sir, can we afford to be different? Can we afford to be complacent? As we set out to remake the Singapore economy, it is instructive for us to look around the region. Our workers must not feel complacent with the job skills that they have today. The rapid pace of technological changes will make these skills outdated very quickly. Those who are unemployed, face the challenge of acquiring new skills. They have to compete with younger and better-educated Singaporeans who are entering the job market by the thousands each year. Mr Speaker, Sir, my Ministry is dedicated to upgrading the skills of our workers and enhancing their employability in the new economic environment. The going is tough. It will get tougher in the years ahead of us. Jobs and low unemployment cannot be taken for granted. We must learn to tackle the growing structural unemployment. Older workers must acquire new skills, so as not to end up in the ranks of the long-term unemployed.”
“Sir, as the President stated in his Address, the Asian financial crisis in 1997 followed by the economic tailspin of all the regional economies had altered the situation. That this took place during a period of globalisation with major changes and adjustments in the flow of trade and investments had added to the pressures on Singapore and the other regional players. China had entered the WTO last November and is already exerting an extraordinary pull on investments and shifting the balance of competition with its enormous market, manpower and other production resources. Singapore, with our very limited manpower resources, cannot hope to compete head on with such an economic juggernaut. We must prepare our workers for the inevitable restructuring if we are to recover and prosper again. Sir, last September, I had the privilege of accompanying the President on his visit to China. Everywhere we went, we saw signs of change. In Xian, which I first visited in 1985, the old ramshackle building which housed the display of one of China's national treasures, the terracotta warriors, had been replaced by a modern museum, which would be the pride and joy of any city. Coastal cities, such as Xiamen, had become hives of economic activities, with world-class hotels and high-rise commercial buildings and industrial complexes. Shanghai's Pudong had risen out of the farmlands which I first saw in 1986. Shanghai itself had an almost palpable beat and dynamism. It is certainly going places. Sir, the President visited one of their latest projects in Shanghai, an ultra-modern high-tech wafer fabrication plant. It was fully automated, with state-of-the-art production equipment. The manager told me that they had no difficulty recruiting engineers.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, thank you very much for allowing me to join in the debate. I too would like to reiterate my support for the Motion of Thanks to the President at the Opening of the Tenth Parliament. Sir, many hon. Members have spoken on the importance of a strong tripartite relationship and how tripartism can help us to ride out this period of economic difficulties. Others have spoken on the plight of the unemployed, especially older workers, and how difficult it is for them to find a job in this new environment of higher unemployment rate. Even those who are today employed are feeling an increasing sense of insecurity as competition chips away at their company's businesses. Sir, this is a totally new situation, one which many Singaporeans may not have experienced in the past. If we look back, except for the brief periods between 1985 and 1987 and, again, in 1998 and 1999, when our economy went into recession, we have been able to enjoy steady economic growth for the past three decades or more. This translates into almost 30 years of very low unemployment, three decades during which jobs were plentiful for our school leavers, our polytechnic and our university graduates. It was one long period of tight labour market when the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Manpower had to entertain and had to try to satisfy the unending demand of employers for more and more workers. Today, it is different. And in fact, perhaps the long period of tight labour market had caused many Singaporeans to feel secure in the sense that a well-paying job can be had with minimum effort. It is almost a matter of right for graduates that well-paying jobs await them upon graduation, and that life is just one long beautiful spring.”
“Sir, during this downturn, the number of people coming to my Ministry has gone up by leaps and bounds. On the other hand, the number of jobs available in the job bank has also declined, as part of the overall economic downturn. So job matching will obviously take a longer time than what we used to be able to do. We do not have a specific timeframe to find a match, but we will try as soon as a person registers with us, maybe within a few days, to give him some recommendations of job openings that are available. As to closing the feedback loop, it works both ways. We also need the job seekers to come back to us and tell us the outcome. Quite often, people go for interviews, if they get the job or even if they do not get the job, they just do not come back to us. Or, sometimes, after having recommended several job opportunities to a job seeker, he may or may not go for an interview. He may have found another job on his own, because people do not just look for jobs through our Career Link@MOM service. They are also actively looking for jobs through their own network of friends, making enquiries, what is available, what are the jobs they have, etc. So MOM offers only one of the contact points for them in terms of job search. Sometimes, when they find jobs through other avenues, they do not come back to us. So we cannot completely close the feedback loop for every case that comes to our attention. We cannot give him a definitive answer in that sense, partly because the registrants themselves do not help us to close that loop.”
“There are things like job-search skills which some people may not have - how do you prepare your curriculum vitae when you are sending out a resume, how do you present yourself at interviews. Some of these things, eg, if you do not present yourself properly during this downturn, when employers really have such a wide range to choose from, you would not get picked. So some of these job-search skills, we also try to impart. We run little workshop sessions for people who register with us in our employment register, we bring them in and conduct little seminars to help them to improve job-search skills.”
“If an unemployed Singaporean or a retrenched worker comes to my Ministry and says, "Look, I need help", my officers at Career Link@MOM, which is our main service centre for helping unemployed Singaporeans, will try to find out more about his working background, experience and skills level. Then we will try to identify which would be a suitable sector that he should direct his job search efforts at. And where we find that he has inadequate skills for particular job vacancies, we will then try to structure a suitable training programme for him. If he does not have the right kind of skills, we will try to arrange for him to get this training. If he is unemployed, of course he does not have an employer to sponsor him, then we will recommend that he either goes to NTUC to seek help under the Education and Training Fund or goes to one of the appropriate community self-help groups to seek assistance, with the self-help group acting as a surrogate employer. We will try to do everything possible to help this person, including providing him with a training package that would be suitable for his particular background, because different people may come with different kinds of background. Some have more skills, some have less, including even some executives and middle management people, for whom maybe it is not just a question of training but opening up the job search to look at more different kinds of industry or business where he could perhaps look for alternative work. So we will do everything possible. In some cases, we even do counselling on a one-to-one basis, to help these unemployed Singaporeans to acquire a more pro-active mindset in looking for jobs.”
“It is going to be very difficult as many people are chasing after so few jobs. But all things being equal, if a worker is not prepared to make this effort to upgrade his skills, or acquire new skills, that means, go for retraining, then his chances of getting a new job are going to be worse off than the other guy who is making every effort to upgrade his skills and is very ready to pick up new skills, learn something different, or do a different job. Hence, all our programmes, including those under NTUC Education and Training Fund, focus on this aspect of preparing and helping our workers so that they can cope with this changed environment. On the question about whether the fund will support retrenched and lower-educated older workers, the answer is "yes". That is the focus. Similar to the Government's training programmes, the focus of the NTUC Education and Training Fund is on the group of workers most in need of help. So they turn out to be that these are the older, lower-skilled workers. And this is what we will continue to do. On the profile, I would convey his request to NTUC. At the appropriate time, I am sure NTUC will be willing to share its experience and the profile of the union members who have benefited from this programme with Members.”
“I think there are about 100-odd such courses available and we are in the process of continuing to increase the type of courses, or enlarge the list of training courses, that can be supported under the Skills Redevelopment Programme and, therefore, also supported by NTUC under the Education and Training Fund. Sir, as the NTUC Education and Training Fund is an endowment fund, the money that is being collected and the Government's subvention to NTUC are not spent directly. They form part of the endowment fund and its interest returns are being used to support the workers who want to go for skills upgrading. In this way, we can continue to ensure that NTUC will have a flow of interest returns from the endowment fund to continue its support for workers who need this assistance. I have already touched on the objectives. It is to help prepare workers so that they can acquire the skill that is needed for them to seek re-employment. The labour market has turned bad. We are now facing a serious crisis. As DPM Lee has mentioned on Friday in great detail, I would not have to go over it again. We are facing a major downturn. The employment market will continue to be very, very difficult. More workers are going to be retrenched and for those who are retrenched, they are going to have greater difficulty in finding new jobs. In this environment, the worker who has got higher skills and is willing to acquire new skills will stand a better chance in getting re-employed, compared to one who is lower skilled and not willing to make an effort. Of course, retraining or skills upgrading does not mean that he will automatically get a new job because the whole job market has shrunk. So it is going to be very competitive.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member has asked questions on what the NTUC Education and Training Fund is used for, how is it being used to help workers and what kind of training programmes. Let me explain that the NTUC Education and Training Fund, which was first set up in October 1998, is used to support workers who are not getting training support from their employers. So it is an individually motivated skills upgrading and training programme. When a person is already employed and his employer wants to send him for training, they can use the Skills Redevelopment Programme directly. We have very generous grants for employer-supported skills upgrading and retraining. But there are of course some workers whose employers are not so far-sighted and who do not want to send their workers for training. In which case, there is a danger that these workers may be left out of all these opportunities for skills upgrading. This is where the NTUC Education and Training Fund comes in to fill up this gap and provide another safety net for workers, especially those who are lower-skilled and, in fact, older workers. So this Education and Training Fund is especially for these workers who want to go for training or skills upgrading on their own. Generally, the types of courses that NTUC will support are similar to the courses that are available under the Skills Redevelopment Programme. These are courses or training that would help workers to acquire skills that are needed for either the manufacturing sector or service sector and is quite broad based, and it covers many industries. It is a fairly long list.”
“The closure of NUS's Department of Building therefore does not arise. NUS's Building graduates have played a useful role in the industry as quantity surveyors, project managers and building performance specialists, and will continue to do so. POLYCLINIC FOR SENGKANG AND PUNGGOL 22. Mr Yeo Guat Kwang asked the Minister for Health if his Ministry has plans to build a new polyclinic to serve the residents of Sengkang and Punggol New Towns.”
“Allowing CPF savings for part-time courses could therefore result in erosion of the old age savings. In view of the above, CPF savings should not be used for part-time studies at the Singapore Open University and distance learning degree courses. ENROLMENT FOR PRIMARY ONE CLASSES 19. Dr Tan Boon Wan asked the Minister for Education if he will consider allowing children, who were born a few days after the cut-off date but who are ready to start their primary education, to enrol early for Primary One. RAdm Teo Chee Hean: It has been the policy of the Ministry of Education to admit children to Primary One who are age 6 and above as on 1st January in the year of admission. This policy has served us well, and is well understood by Singaporeans. The Ministry does not intend to make adjustments to this policy. NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE (Closure of Department of Building) 21. Dr Teo Ho Pin asked the Minister for Education whether his Ministry has any plan to close the Department of Building at the National University of Singapore as the Building and Construction Authority will not be recognising the Bachelor of Science (Building) degree in the proposed contractor registration system in 2003. RAdm Teo Chee Hean: The Building and Construction Authority (BCA)'s new Contractor Registration System requires various categories of sizable building and civil engineering contractors to employ specified numbers of professional and technical staff, of which one-third should have qualifications recognised by the Professional Engineers Board or the Board of Architects. The other two-thirds of the professional and technical staff can hold other industry-relevant qualifications not accredited by the 2 Boards. These would include the Bachelor of Science (Building) degree from NUS.”
“Several Members of Parliament have in the past raised the issue of allowing CPF for part-time courses, including those offered by the Singapore Open University and distance learning degree courses. I understand the desire of individuals who wish to have the flexibility to use their CPF savings for part-time courses. Since the special exception was made in 1989 to allow CPF for local full-time tertiary education, we have received many requests to liberalise the CPF Education Scheme to cover overseas education, part-time courses, distance learning, etc. The CPF is meant for a member's retirement, housing and medical needs. We have allowed CPF to be used for local full-time tertiary education as a concession to help low income families support their children through local full-time tertiary education. To ensure that the fundamental objectives of the CPF in meeting the retirement, housing and medical needs of its members will not be undermined, the scheme was confined to full-time tertiary education at approved local institutions, because such courses are heavily subsidised by the Government. CPF members who are working adults and wish to pursue further education at the Singapore Open University or take up distance learning courses are advised to plan in advance for their studies, and set aside sufficient cash savings to meet their education expenses. Those who intend to pursue part-time distance learning courses should plan ahead to ensure that they can meet the course fees and the time to devote to such courses before embarking on the course. We have found that the dropout rates for part-time students in our institutes of higher learning are much higher than that for full-time students.”
“The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Dr Lee Boon Yang]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed. TREASURY BILLS (Motion)”
“Member has an interest in that, he can either file a Question or I can convey the answer to him. Mr Hawazi also asked whether the CPF Board would advise CPF members and insurers if the Board has reason to believe that a member is buying a policy that may well exceed his means to service. This is, of course, an area of some concern to us, especially in investment-linked products. That is why last year we stopped the use of CPF savings for the purchase of annual premium investment-linked products, because there is a chance that the member may not be able to service a future premium and the policy will lapse, and he stands to lose quite a large sum of his CPF savings. We will continue to advise and to educate CPF members on making prudent decisions with regard to the use of their CPF savings. Finally, Mr Chiam urged that the Government should be fair in approving companies to be named as the insurers for the Eldershield insurance scheme. Let me assure Mr Chiam that the Government is always fair and always above-board in its choice of service providers, whether it is just for ordinary service or for a special scheme such as an Eldershield insurance premium. I understand that the Ministry of Health will invite insurance companies to submit their tenders to participate in the scheme, and the merits of each tender will be studied carefully, and only those that meet the requirements imposed by the Ministry of Health will be selected. We are looking at, potentially, up to four insurance companies to be selected to run the national scheme. I hope this will reassure Mr Chiam that we will continue, as always, to be fair and above-board. Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.”
“That is, in fact, a very poor reflection of the state of his financial affairs. So members should not worry that this Eldershield insurance will result in the confidentiality of their CPF account details being breached. Mr Hawazi also asked whether we intend to widen the use of CPF savings for the purchase of insurance policies. Today, under the CPF Investment Scheme, we do allow members to use their CPF savings, both in their Ordinary and in their Special accounts, to purchase investment-linked products. These are insurance policies with an investment component. I do not think we have allowed the use of CPF savings to purchase an ordinary life insurance policy without an investment component. Are there plans to widen the use of CPF savings for insurance policies? Under this Amendment Bill, I would like to point out to Members that this is only pertaining to health insurance. Hon. Members will notice that clause 3 of the Bill amends section 77(1)(ja) of the CPF Act, and that the section refers to "the withdrawal of money from the Medisave account of a member for payment of premiums payable by the member or his dependant who is assured under a medical insurance scheme approved by the Minister charged with the responsibility for health." So it is strictly a health-related insurance scheme. And the answer then would be, yes, I believe the Ministry of Health is looking at other health insurance schemes which will meet their requirements, and we would be encouraging CPF members to consider alternative forms of health insurance. Mr Hawazi asked for the number of CPF members who have used their CPF savings to purchase insurance schemes. I am afraid I do not have the numbers with me, but if the hon.”
“For instance, the insurance companies will not have access to the balance in his Ordinary account. Also, to further safeguard confidentiality, we will not be conveying to the insurance company the member's balance position in his Medisave. As I have explained in my Second Reading Bill, our intention is to expedite the operation of this Eldershield insurance scheme to make it easy. If we have too many requirements, the cost of managing the insurance will go up, and premiums will, therefore, have to go up. We want to make it affordable by designing it as a simple, workable and pragmatic insurance scheme. What we are going to do is only to inform the insurance company when the member's account balance falls below what is required for him to pay the premium. So, knowing the anniversary date of his Eldershield policy, that we will have to deduct a certain amount of money for the Eldershield premium, and knowing from our records that he does not have a sufficient balance in his account, we will then inform the insurance company that so-and-so does not have enough to pay the full premium and that it will have to collect from him, say, "X" dollars in cash, to make up for the premium so that the policy does not lapse. In that sense, we are not revealing all the information concerning the Medisave account to the insurance company. As I said in my Second Reading speech, the fact that he may not have a sufficient balance in his Medisave account does not reflect on his financial position at all, because he may well have somebody in the family who fell ill recently and was hospitalised and his Medisave account was used to pay those hospitalisation expenses. If he continues to have a job, he continues to be able to service his mortgage, he has no financial difficulty at all.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank the Members who support the Bill. I will now answer the questions raised by both Mr Hawazi and Mr Chiam. Mr Hawazi asked whether the CPF Board will help to counsel members so that they do not opt out of the scheme. Certainly, when the Ministry of Health launches this one-off exercise to ask those aged above 40 and up to age 69 whether they are going to opt out or not, we will participate in the process of educating and informing our CPF members. We will urge them not to opt out recklessly. This is a good insurance scheme. Eldershield will help to provide for their old age. About 8% of the elderly population will be in need of such assistance. So it will be good for these people. It will be good for us. We do not know when we may be struck down by a disease or an ailment that requires long-term care. So it is a very affordable insurance scheme and members should not just opt out without making a careful consideration. Mr Hawazi also asked whether the CPF Board would ensure that the information would not be used for other purposes, just like Mr Chiam also raised the same point on confidentiality. In my Second Reading speech, I have addressed this point. The Board is very concerned and well aware of its responsibility as trustees to the CPF members for their CPF savings. We do not unnecessarily reveal any information concerning members' accounts. With regard to access to members' particulars provided for in this Amendment Bill, we are only limiting it to the Medisave account, because it is related to the use of Medisave to pay for the premiums for Eldershield. So we will not allow the insurance companies to have direct access to a member's CPF account in toto.”
“I would like to reiterate that only information that is essential for the administration of the approved healthcare insurance will be passed to approved private insurance companies, and that the approved insurance companies will be required to use the information strictly for the purpose of enrolling Singaporeans in the approved healthcare insurance schemes. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.”
“For Eldershield, only the CPF member's name, address, gender and premium shortfall, if any, will be released to the insurer. Insurers will not have free access to CPF members' account details. For the vast majority of members who have enough Medisave to pay for their Eldershield premium, information on their Medisave account balance will not be released to the insurer. The insurer will know only when a CPF member does not have sufficient Medisave for the Eldershield premium to be deducted. This makes it convenient for CPF members, as they do not need to separately check whether they have sufficient Medisave for Eldershield premium. As Medisave savings can be used to pay for hospitalisation expenses and other approved insurance premium payments, releasing information on the member's Eldershield premium shortfall is not indicative of the savings that he has accumulated over the years in his Medisave account. Sir, the proposed amendments also stipulate that the insurer may not use the information for any other purpose other than for those connected with the administration of the scheme. The insurance companies will not be allowed to divulge such confidential information to their insurance agents or other parties for any other purposes. An insurer who misuses or wrongfully communicates confidential information will be guilty of an offence. Under the Statutory Bodies and Government Companies (Protection of Secrecy) Act, the insurer shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both, and under the Official Secrets Act, the insurer shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.”
“Sir, this is in line with the Ministry of Health's objective of expanding the role of healthcare insurance to meet the healthcare cost of Singaporeans. Sir, the Eldershield will operate as an opt-out scheme. The Ministry of Health (MOH) has announced that the opt-out age will be set at age 40 and the maximum entry age will be set at 70. A special one-off exercise will be conducted for Singaporeans aged between 40 and 69 to decide whether to opt-out of Eldershield. MOH has also announced that to encourage greater private sector participation in the severe disability insurance market, they will tender out Eldershield to private insurers. To enable private insurers to operate opt-out insurance schemes, the CPF Board will need to provide these insurers with certain information. Hence, the Bill also seeks to amend the CPF Act to allow the CPF Board to release relevant information to an insurer administering or operating an approved insurance scheme, without the need for authorisation by the Medisave account holder. In the case of Eldershield, for example, MOH would require the CPF Board to pass information such as the names, addresses and gender of CPF members aged between 40 and 69, to the approved insurers to facilitate the running of the scheme. For those who did not opt out of Eldershield but have insufficient Medisave balance to pay for the premiums, the insurance companies have to know the premium shortfall so that they could request these CPF members to top up the outstanding balance by cash. Sir, CPF members may ask what are the safeguards and prevention of possible abuses of such information disclosure. I would like to reassure hon. Members that CPF account details would be safeguarded.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." At this year's National Day Rally, the Prime Minister announced that the Ministry of Health will introduce Eldershield, an affordable severe disability insurance scheme to provide insurance coverage to elderly Singaporeans who require long-term care. The details of the Eldershield insurance scheme was released by the Ministry of Health on 24th August this year. The Ministry of Health had decided to allow CPF members to use their Medisave savings for the Eldershield premiums. It had also designed the Eldershield insurance scheme to operate as an opt-out scheme to attain as wide a coverage as possible. To provide for the use of Medisave for Eldershield premium, the CPF Act has to be amended. Sir, currently, the CPF Act allows the withdrawal of Medisave savings to pay for the premiums of medical insurance schemes such as Medishield, NTUC Income's Incomeshield and AIA's Healthshield. Such schemes are defined as insurance to reimburse the CPF members' hospitalisation expenses. The Eldershield is a severe disability insurance scheme which provides coverage for long-term care, including home care and does not cover hospitalisation expenses. Hence, the CPF (Amendment) Bill before the House today introduces a new provision to allow CPF members to use their Medisave savings to pay for premiums of any healthcare insurance scheme approved by the Minister for Health. For those who do not have enough Medisave savings, they can use the Medisave savings of their spouse, children, parents or grandchildren. This will give CPF members greater flexibility in using their Medisave savings to pay for approved healthcare insurance, including the Eldershield.”
“Parent support groups are more informal, allowing parents to contribute their time and effort whenever they are able to do so, and the remaining schools are in varying stages of setting up their parent support structures. These structures have helped foster a shared responsibility between parents and teachers in the children's education. The PTAs and PSGs serve as a channel of communication and feedback between parents and the school, and help develop better parent-school understanding. The PTAs and PSGs also participate in the organisation and execution of school activities for the school children. Many of them bring valuable expertise and experience for the benefit of the school children. Sir, up to now, we do not have data on the number of complaints by parents against teachers at the school level. However, the general feeling among principals is that the regular dialogue between PTAs, PSGs and the schools, and their participation in school activities have resulted in an improvement in the relationship between the schools and parents. MEDISAVE (Use for annual medical check-ups) 4. Mr Sin Boon Ann asked the Minister for Health whether his Ministry will consider reviewing the guidelines to include the use of Medisave for annual medical check-ups.”
“So they may be far more adaptable to take on different kinds of jobs with different requirements. Their job skills may not perfectly fit what is available now. Nevertheless, we are prepared to help them acquire a set of skills that can help them in taking on the new jobs, and I refer specifically to a programme that we launched in 1999. This is called the Strategic Manpower Conversion Programme. This is a programme that will reach out to the better educated who need to acquire a different set of job skills, eg, those who are already degree or diploma holders but do not have sufficient expertise in the infocomm sector. And this is one sector that is still generating job vacancies and looking for people. So we are prepared to help them undergo a short period of training to acquire the infocomm skills, then they can go into these jobs. We have extended the programme from infocomm to e-learning and we will be looking at other areas where we can likewise provide a similar conversion training for the better educated so that they can take on the available jobs. PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS 3. Mr Ahmad Mohd Magad asked the Minister for Education (a) how many schools have established Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs); (b) whether schools with PTAs (i) are effective in fostering shared responsibility between teachers and parents in the children's education; and (ii) have less complaints by parents against teachers. The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Encik Mohamad Maidin B P M) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, about two-thirds of our schools have established parent support structures. Out of these, about 5% of them have registered parent-teacher associations (PTAs) and about 65% have established parent support groups (PSGs).”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, we set out with a modest budget to start off as a pilot project for these people for a jobs programme in June this year. But since the situation has got worse since then, we are prepared to raise the budget and, as my colleague, the Minister for Trade and Industry, said on 25th July when he announced the package of measures, the Government is prepared to put in as much financial resources as necessary to keep this programme running as long as there are takers from the employers and there are workers who are prepared to make the effort to acquire the new skills to work in the jobs that are available. How effective? We will measure the effectiveness at the end of the day by the rate at which we can redeploy the displaced workers from the manufacturing sector into the services sector. In a way, it is to avoid increasing the degree of structural unemployment among our workforce, because if we do not succeed in making this redeployment, and knowing that many of the manufacturing sector's low-skilled jobs are unlikely to return even if the economy turns around, we may well be saddled with a very high level of structural unemployment. So at the end of the day, we can measure how effective our programmes are if we are able to keep structural unemployment as low as possible. On the question about special efforts to differentiate the higher skilled workers, as I mentioned in my main reply, there are also jobs for the higher skilled workers that are available today in the infocomm sector. For instance, in the healthcare sector, there are also jobs for professionals. As I have also mentioned previously, for most of the higher educated, it is not so much a question of further skills upgrading, because they are already highly skilled, highly educated individuals.”
“Sir, the `People for Jobs' Traineeship Programme will in fact address the concern raised by the Member. Those who are shifting from the manufacturing sector into jobs, whether it is in the transport, warehousing or services sector, will receive some training by the employers who will also receive Government support of up to $600 per month for the first three months of the worker's employment. This will help them to overcome the initial difficulties. As to whether the jobs in the healthcare sector are suitable for those in the manufacturing sector to be redeployed to, there are some jobs in the healthcare sector that require almost professional qualifications and I understand it will not be easy for people to shift over to these jobs. But there are also jobs in the healthcare sector, for instance, nursing assistants or nursing aides who help in the general running of providing basic services in the hospitals, which can be taken but, of course, with some form of training, because it is a totally different working environment and the requirements are quite different. But we are prepared to help employers who are ready to recruit the displaced workers from the manufacturing sector and to put them into these jobs in the healthcare sector.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I cannot say that my Ministry is an expert on the quality of service in the retail sector. But we have seen reports or comments where people have felt that the quality of service of the retail sector personnel needs further improvement. If we look at the experience of some other countries, I remember in the middle of the 80s, Hong Kong underwent a severe economic downturn. Prior to that, Hong Kong had a rather poor reputation for service quality but, as a result of the economic downturn, there was a dramatic transformation. Hong Kong's retail sector, in particular, and the services sector, in general, made a really dramatic improvement in the quality of service that they were offering. Perhaps, in the same way, with this downturn and the loosening of the labour market where jobs do not easily come by, people who move into the services sector should make a greater effort to provide better service to ensure that they can hold on to their jobs and, in general, that will help to raise the quality of service. At the same time, training will also make a difference. That is why in our programme like `People for Jobs' Traineeship Programme, one of the key factors is to require the employer to provide proper training for the new recruits and part of this training will include providing better service quality. We are also providing community-based CREST training modules. These are basic learning-to-learn skills which can help workers to better understand how to relate to customers' requirements and how to improve the service quality that they have to provide. In fact, there are several programmes that will help to enhance the skills and service quality of our retail and services sectors.”
“These measures will equip displaced workers with the right skills for available jobs. We will also supplement training efforts with employment assistance to match individuals with jobs. The Career Centre at my Ministry, CareerLink@mom, provides free employment assistance services to Singaporeans. From this month, my Ministry will also be starting a series of community based job fairs to bring together job seekers and employers. We target to organise an average of one job fair per month for the rest of the year. The Government will do its best to help retrenched workers transit to new jobs in new industries that require different skills. However, we urge retrenched workers to be flexible and adaptable, and make the necessary adjustments to take on these jobs, such as accepting shift work and even working occasionally on weekends.”
“However, the skill sets required in the services sector may be different. To help our older and lower skilled retrenched workers make the switch to new jobs, we started a pilot programme called the 'People for Jobs' Traineeship Programme in June this year. This is like an apprentice programme for mid-career workers. Under this programme, my Ministry provides financial support of up to $3.80 per hour or $600 per month for 3 months for companies which employ the older retrenched workers. This will encourage employers to recruit retrenched workers and ease their transition to a new industry and work environment. To date, more than 30 companies from various industries like the hotel, retail, security service sectors have already signed on with this programme. They have made available 1,000 vacancies for room attendants, sales assistants, cashiers, security officers and others. In addition, to help Singaporeans better qualify for the available positions, my Ministry works closely with relevant organisations to enhance the short and long term re-employment prospects of retrenched workers through training. For instance, under the sponsorship of surrogate employers such as the NTUC and self-help groups, retrenched Singaporeans can benefit from Skills Redevelopment Programme training. To encourage these surrogate employers to reach out to more workers, from 1st August 2001, the Skills Development Fund will increase its course fee support for trainees aged 40 and above under the surrogate employer scheme from 80% to 100%. As for trainees below 40 years old, my Ministry will provide a separate grant from the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund to surrogate employers to help offset part of their cost.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the employment situation, as I have just mentioned earlier, has deteriorated over the past few months due to the economic downturn. The construction and manufacturing sectors have been badly hit, with net employment declining by 2,160 and 1,075 respectively, in the first quarter of this year. In contrast, the services sector has continued to register positive employment growth of 28,200 over the same period. Job vacancies were highest in the transport, storage and communication industries, which saw nearly 3,000 job openings in the first quarter of this year. Other services industries such as financial services, wholesale and retail trade also had high job vacancies. While the situation may have worsened since then, there are still job opportunities. According to industry feedback in recent months, there continue to be job vacancies in the services sector. For instance, there is a shortage of housekeepers, receptionists, waiters/waitresses and cooks in the hotel and restaurant sector; ambulance attendants, healthcare assistants in the healthcare sector; and childcare assistants in the education sector. The transport and logistics sector is also hiring vehicle mechanics and warehouse assistants. We are still facing a shortage of nurses, pharmacists, radiographers in the healthcare sector; and administrative support staff in the education sector. There are also vacancies for network analysts and software developers in the infocomm sector; actuaries and underwriters in the finance sector; and engineers and technicians in the pharmaceutical and aerospace industries. While manufacturing industries such as the electronics industry are cutting jobs, there are still jobs available in the services sector.”
“Sir, I will give the Member the answer when he asks the next Question. SECTORS FACING SHORTAGE OF WORKERS 2. Mr Yeo Guat Kwang asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether there are sectors currently facing a shortage of workers and, if so, which are the sectors; and (b) how Singaporean workers can be given assistance to qualify for jobs in these sectors.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, a total of 3,248 workers were retrenched in the first quarter of this year. In the second quarter, preliminary findings of our survey on private sector establishments with at least 25 workers show that some 5,600 workers were affected by retrenchments. Based on voluntary notifications by companies to the Ministry, the number of workers affected by retrenchments in the third quarter would be higher than the figures registered in the first and second quarters. For the whole of this year, the estimated number of workers who may be retrenched could reach 20,000. This is significantly higher than the figure of 11,624 recorded last year but is lower than the figure of 29,086 retrenched in 1998. Total employment in the first quarter of this year rose by 23,210, seasonally lower than the 35,066 in the last quarter of 2000. However, based on changes in employment up to May and forecast of economic conditions ahead, total employment for this year is likely to be flat or slightly negative as against a sharp employment gain of 108,500 in 2000. Unemployment is expected to rise to around 4% by year end. However, the forecast of annual average unemployment for 2001 is lower in the range of 3% to 3.5% because of the generally lower figures in the first half as unemployment tends to lag economic activities.”
“Sir, we have already done so in the Skills Redevelopment Programme by paying to the employer who sends an older worker above the age of 40 years for training 100% of his training cost, instead of 80%, for a younger worker. We are also prepared to pay a higher level of absentee payroll subsidy to the employers. Further enhancement to the existing incentives will be announced by my colleague, the Minister for Trade and Industry. ACCOMMODATION OF FOREIGN WORKERS (Safety and minimum standards) 10. Mr Hawazi Daipi asked the Minister for National Development, in light of the recent fire of some workers' quarters in Jurong which killed three foreign workers, whether the Ministry has set out guidelines on the safety and minimum standards for the accommodation of workers in the various industries.”
“Sir, as I have explained earlier on, it is not a question of discrimination that some older workers encounter greater difficulties getting a job, in the sense that employers have ruled them out purely on age alone. There may be some companies that have done that, in which case obviously, they are missing out on opportunities to recruit workers that can help them. On the other hand, there are many situations where the older workers are not given the job simply because of a mismatch and this mismatch, as I explained earlier, can happen from both point of view. The employer may have an expectation of a certain level of skills which the older workers may not have, or the older workers may have certain expectations of the working environment that the employers are not able to provide. So legislation will not cure this problem. I think we better stay with a more flexible labour market where we can allow market forces to operate and employers can recruit the people who can contribute to the company. As a Government, we will come in to help all those older workers who are facing greater difficulties by giving them extra assistance to help them to acquire the skills that are needed as the economy is restructured, as jobs become more demanding in terms of the skills content and technical capabilities that are required. In other words, we will try to make our older workers more employable.”
“There are many reasons why some employers are reluctant to employ older workers. One of the more commonly cited reasons is the lack of skills by the older workers, who are less able to do the job that an employer has in the company. This is an area that we can tackle and we are determined to tackle this through a wide variety of training programmes. But there are other more market reasons why some employers prefer a younger worker for a certain type of work. In some cases, we also have older workers who are less reluctant to take on the job. For instance, we have employers in the food manufacturing industry crying out for workers and they are prepared to take older workers, but older workers are not prepared to take the job because they are required to work on a 12-hour shift and to be in their duty stations for a fairly long period of time during their working hours. There are many reasons and we will have to overcome them over a period of time by constantly educating employers and, at the same time, upgrading the capability of our older workers so that they are in a better position to take on these jobs.”
“Sir, through our contacts with the Singapore National Employers Federation, we are constantly promoting this message that employers should not rule out the option of employing older or mid-career workers. As you can see from the survey results which I gave just now, in fact, employers do recognise the benefits of putting their employees or new recruits through the Skills Redevelopment Training programmes. Increasingly, as more and more employers recognise the benefits of such skills training programmes and that, in fact, an older worker can make an equally good contribution to the company's effort, I am sure there will be more opportunities opening up for the older workers. But it has got to be a two-way effort, that is, the older workers have to make that extra effort to upgrade their skills so that they can continue to make a contribution to help the company to compete and, on the other hand, we will continue to promote the benefits of employing older workers.”
“Sir, the answer is yes. We will look at every possible way to provide better job assistance, especially to the older workers. As I have explained at the last Parliament sitting, we are even offering counselling services at our CareerLink@mom. There are group sessions, like workshop sessions, or even one-to-one counselling sessions for some of the older workers who need special assistance. We already have a mechanism to offer them this special counselling to help them to look for new employment.”
“We will also be introducing a new programme called the "People for Jobs" Traineeship Programme to help older and lower skilled workers make the transition to new economic sectors. The Minister for Trade and Industry's statement on the off-Budget measures will have more to say on these programmes.”
“If we can hit about 28,000-30,000 participants in the SRP programme for each year for the next two years, we should be able to hit our target of 100,000. OLDER WORKERS (Improvement of job prospects) 9. Mr Yeo Guat Kwang asked the Minister for Manpower, besides the Skill Redevelopment Programme, whether the Ministry has other plans to help older workers to improve their job prospects. Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, my Ministry is aware that older workers with lower skills face greater difficulties seeking re-employment. Hence, our skill upgrading programmes, as I explained earlier on, offer enhanced support and special incentives to the older workers. Besides the Skills Redevelopment Programme, we have the National Skills Recognition System (NSRS) and other initiatives funded by the Government to help older and less educated workers. To facilitate skills upgrading for older workers who do not possess formal education, we introduced the National Skills Recognition System in September last year. This is an industry-driven framework to, firstly, develop and review standards for job-specific skills and, secondly, to accord recognition for standards achieved through national certification. There is no entry educational requirement for the National Skills Recognition System courses. As a result, older workers without formal education can achieve certified National Skills Recognition System standards that are recognised by the industry. Industries where NSRS training has been implemented include the hotel, marine, cleaning and call centre industries. We have also allocated resources to help older and lower skilled workers acquire critical enabling skills which will enhance their employability.”
“My Ministry would certainly do that. In fact, we are already doing so by helping people through our CareerLink@mom. This would include helping SRP trainees to find suitable employment upon completion of their training.”
“Most importantly, 78% of all respondents said that the SRP course had been useful in helping them to gain employment. Sir, I would also like to add that the SRP has not only benefited retrenched workers or the unemployed. It has also benefited employers and in-employment trainees, in other words, workers who are still employed and have a job. According to the same survey commissioned by my Ministry and NTUC, 70% of employers reported that workers who underwent the SRP training had become more productive. 75% of workers who had undergone in-employment training indicated that they were more confident of handling greater job responsibilities and more complex tasks after the training. These results are an indication of the positive impact of the Skills Redevelopment Programme training on enhancing the skills of our older and less educated workers. With the economic downturn, we will intensify our efforts to deepen and broaden the programme, so that those who are affected by the downturn will be able to benefit from the programme.”