There has been a 20 percent rise in workers landing new jobs through professional conversion programmes in 2016, up from 2015. This programme was initiated in Singapore as a means to help jobseekers acquire new skills and industry expertise, so that they can easily switch to a new field.
The improved success rate is real encouraging, said Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say in parliament while providing an update on the Government’s efforts to help jobseekers, Straits Times reports.
Mr Lim further added that, “1,300 successful candidates form about half the pool of people whom the programmes tried to match with jobs. The rest may have found work on their own or through other means, like the National Jobs Bank.”
The success rate of this programme in helping people find jobs has been fairly balanced and inclusive. Providing a demographic breakdown of all the successful jobseekers helped by the Manpower Ministry’s Adapt and Grow support programmes – three in five were rank-and-file workers, while the rest were professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), and around two in five were 50 or older.
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A third of successful jobseekers have been out of work for more than six months, thus placing them in the category of long-term unemployed. Acknowledging the fact, that most PMETs might find it harder to get a new job in a new field, Lim noted that most of those who change jobs end up being at the bottom of the ladder.
While this may sound discouraging to many older PMETs, the MOM will soon announce measures to improve on the PCP programmes to address this rapidly ageing workforce challenge. Having introduced the PCP in 2007, a lot of economic restructuring and slowing local workforce growth, has led to an increase in the risk of mismatch between jobseekers and jobs created.
To minimise risks, the Government has recently doubled the number of conversion programmes to cover more sectors. There were 55 programmes towards the end of last year, as in comparison to 22 at the beginning of the year.
Also read: Career Advancement Concerns of Singaporeans: What are the roadblocks?
