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Oral Answer by Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng to PQ on support for companies and workers after Jobs Support Scheme winds down

Skills, training and development

NOTICE PAPER NO. 549 OF 2020 FOR 27 JULY SITTING

QUESTION NO. 1407 FOR ORAL ANSWER

 

MP: Mr Desmond Choo

 

To ask the Minister for Manpower in view of the winding down of the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) in September 2021 (a) whether there will be an increase in retrenchment and unemployment, especially in the aviation, aerospace and hospitality sectors; and (b) how will the Ministry support the companies and workers in these sectors which have limited scope for recovery in the near term.

 

Proposed Answer

 

  1. The lifting of travel restrictions in Singapore and globally is likely to be slow amidst the emergence of more transmissible strains of the COVID virus. As such, the recovery of the Aviation- and Tourism-related sectors is expected to remain weak.

     

  2. Besides the Jobs Support Scheme, the Government has been providing targeted support to these sectors that are affected badly. MOT introduced the $870 million OneAviation Support Package in February to enable aviation companies to preserve core capabilities and maintain Singapore’s position as an aviation hub. STB launched a domestic tourism campaign and extended $320 million worth of SingapoRediscovers Vouchers to drive domestic tourism. WSG has rolled out various Job Redesign Reskilling Programmes to support employers in these sectors to make use of the downtime to redesign jobs and reskill their employees to take on new job roles. For firms in these sectors that are still able to expand local hiring, they can also tap on the Jobs Growth Incentive, which provides up to $54,000 per hire.

     

  3. For affected workers who are looking to switch to new careers in other sectors, we will help them access suitable jobs and skills opportunities. Besides WSG’s Careers Connect and NTUC’s e2i career centres, WSG has set up the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Centres in all HDB towns and deployed Careers Connect On-the-Go to bring career matching services closer to jobseekers. Jobseekers can also tap on digital resources available on WSG’s MyCareersFuture portal to search for suitable job opportunities.

     

  4. The Government will continue to closely monitor the impact of COVID-19 on these sectors, and are reviewing the provision of targeted support so that core capabilities can be preserved and the sectors can emerge stronger through the eventual recovery.