Written Answer by Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng to PQ on Wage Increases for Workers who Attended Workforce Singapore-supported Programmes

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1494 OF 2022 FOR THE SITTING ON 7 NOVEMBER 2022

QUESTION NO. 3731 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Mr Leon Perera

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the current proportion of workers who obtain a pay increase within a year of attending Workforce Singapore (WSG)-supported programmes; and (b) what is the satisfaction rate of trainees with the WSG-supported training programmes after a year.

Answer:

Workforce Singapore (WSG) supports reskilling of workers through the Career Conversion Programmes (CCPs) and the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways (SGUP) programme. CCPs provide course fee and salary support of up to 90% for mid-career individuals to move into new occupations or sectors, while the SGUP programme provides full-time attachments for mature mid-career individuals aged 40 and over.

Employment outcomes for our CCP participants are encouraging. About nine in ten CCP participants remained employed 24 months after embarking on the programme. About seven in ten of those who participated in CCPs in 2021 earned more than their last drawn salaries. This shows that participants, with their new skillsets, were able to perform well even where they moved into a new sector or occupation. We do not conduct satisfaction surveys for CCPs.

The SGUP was introduced in August 2020 to support local workers amidst the economic downturn. MOM regularised the SGUP programme in April 2022 to complement CCPs. The employment outcomes of mature participants in the earlier cohorts have also been positive, notwithstanding the weaker labour market conditions then. About seven in ten found employment post-attachment, of which about five in ten earned higher compared to their last drawn salaries. We had surveyed these earlier cohorts, and about 80% had a high satisfaction score of at least 4 out of 5.