Skip to main content

Oral Answer by Mr Lim Swee Say, Minister for Manpower, to Parliamentary Question on updates for Adapt and Grow Initiatives

Notice Paper No. 431 Of 2016 For The Sitting On 08 November 2016

Question No. 767 For Oral Answer

MP: Mr Gan Thiam Poh


To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what have been the success rates of (i) the Career Support Programme (ii) the Professional Conversion programme and (iii) the P-Max Programme so far; and (b) whether the Ministry will increase the number of intakes for each programme or improve the system including the extension of grants from one year to three years

Answer 

  1. The “Adapt and Grow” initiative was launched earlier this year to support workers, especially mid-career PMETs, in finding jobs.
  2. In the first 3 quarters of this year, 6,400 PMETs found jobs through the assistance of Workforce Singapore (WSG) and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i).
  3. To help more PMETs to take up available jobs in a different profession, we are increasing the number of Professional Conversion Programmes (“PCPs”) from 22 covering 12 sectors at the beginning of the year to more than 50 covering almost all sectors by the end of the year. This will benefit more than 1,000 PMETs this year.
  4. For mature PMETs who are made redundant, we are helping them to find new employment by providing wage support for the first year of employment. This is done through the Career Support Programme (“CSP”). Out of 1,500 eligible PMETs who have registered with WSG and e2i, more than 200 have received such wage support through their new employers since the inception of the CSP in October 2015.
  5. We have also helped about 900 PMETs to secure jobs in SMEs under P-Max so far this year. We expect this number to exceed 1,000 by the end of the year.
  6. Together with the tripartite partners, WSG will continue to raise the awareness of these Adapt and Grow programmes among workers and businesses. We will continue to expand our capacity to support more workers and employers as we go through this economic transition. We will also continue to refine these programmes to ensure that they are effective in helping workers and businesses to adapt and grow.