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With the strong economic recovery, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) are focusing on efforts to expand the Continuing Education and Training (CET) system to support the vision of capability and productivity driven growth laid out by the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC).
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In line with this, the two-year Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) will cease in December 2010 and new support for approved Continuing Education and Training (CET) courses under the Skills Development Fund will be introduced. Details of the changes are shown in Annex A.
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Speaking at the Precision Engineering Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) Diploma graduation ceremony at Singapore Polytechnic, Minister for Manpower Mr Gan Kim Yong said, “SPUR was designed as a temporary measure to address the economic downturn. With the economy stabilising, it is timely to phase out SPUR and adopt more targeted measures to support economic restructuring and enhance productivity. The changes will allow us to use CET resources more effectively to help more workers, across more industries and in more skills areas. To achieve this, the government will increase its investment in CET to about $2.5 billion over the next 5 years.”
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WDA will focus on outcome-based training programmes aimed at meeting the needs of the economy, and for efforts to be more targeted. Employers will also be able to leverage on more funded courses for Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs), to reflect the changing workforce profile, with PMETs making up more than one in every two in the workforce now. Currently there are 300 PMET courses available and efforts are underway to roll out more courses and reach out to more PMETs when SPUR ends.
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Mr Gan added, “During the recent recession, we started to include some PMET programmes under SPUR. After SPUR ends, PMETs can look forward to many more WSQ and other programmes that will help them to broaden and deepen their skills. Expanding the coverage to PMETs will be a major priority in the next phase of development of our CET system.”
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One example is the new Productivity Initiatives in Services and Manufacturing (PRISM) to support the broader national push to raise productivity. PRISM will offer a suite of productivity-related programmes like master classes, seminars and training courses for both the manufacturing and services sectors. It will equip managers and supervisors with the know-how to use various productivity tools and techniques such as Six Sigma, Lean Management, and business process re-engineering. The target is to equip 1,000 managers/supervisors over two years with useful productivity tools and know-how to drive productivity efforts within their enterprises. The estimated cost of the programme is $3 million. Please see Annex B for details of programme.
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Older low-wage workers who are eligible for the Workfare Training Support (WTS) scheme introduced in July 2010 will not be affected. Employers will enjoy enhanced course fee and absentee payroll support
About SPUR
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On 1 Dec 2008, at the onset of the global economic recession, the tripartite partners introduced SPUR to help companies and workers manage the economic downturn and invest in skills for the recovery. Leveraging on the extensive national CET system, SPUR brought together a full range of skills upgrading programmes with enhanced financial support that companies and workers can tap on.
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In various surveys conducted by MOM and WDA in 2009, companies and workers have affirmed that SPUR has made an impact. SPUR helped companies to cut costs and save jobs; and local workers to reskill and upskill in order to strengthen our manpower capabilities to better position our workforce for the upturn. SPUR also enhanced support for course fee subsidies and higher absentee payroll for local workers sent for training at approved SPUR training providers. Job assistance and training programmes for jobseekers were also expanded.
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As of end-June 2010, some 251,000 workers have completed or are still undergoing SPUR training. About two-third (or 163,000) of the trainees were sent by their companies, while the other one-third (or 88,000) signed up for SPUR training on their own. Among the 251,000 workers are 85,000 PMETs who have signed up for Professional Skills Programme training. 64,000 job seekers also found jobs through SPUR. The Government has committed more than $470 million for SPUR so far.