The government will create more than 40,000 jobs for 2020, by scaling up the SGUnited Jobs Initiative, Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo stated in Parliament on June 4.

"Our top most priority is still to promote jobs, and making sure that jobseekers have access to them," she said.

The SGUnited Jobs initiative was first announced by Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Heng Swee Keat during his Fortitude Budget Speech on May 26, as part of a larger SGUnited Jobs & Skills Package that will also oversee the creation of 25,000 traineeships and skills training for 30,000 job seekers.

Teo used the weather analogy to describe Singapore's job market:

"However, unlike for cyclical downturns, with Covid-19, there’s much less visibility about the future. It’s hard to tell if a bigger storm is brewing, or how long it may last...

Even with the best of plans, bad weather cannot always be avoided. Instead of being frustrated, we learnt to gear up and be ready to step out in any weather. It’s not just to wander aimlessly, but to try and make our way to where there’s clearer skies, and to get back in the sun. It takes a lot of effort, but it’s better than to be stuck with nowhere to go."

Government bringing forward hiring plans

Within the public sector, Teo said that the creation of permanent positions will be done by bringing forward hiring plans.

This will include science and engineering roles in agencies such as HTX, and positions in early childhood education, healthcare and long-term care.

In addition, the government will ramp up the capacity for career conversion programmes to help job-seekers reskill for new roles in the private sector, such as Auxiliary Police Officers within the security sector, Teo further added.

Teo said:

"As businesses transform, workers may become redundant. We will work with employers to prepare them for redeployment rather than unemployment. In this climate, we should be realistic but also opportunistic, in a good way."

Career centres will be built in every HDB town

Teo said that the government had set the aim of building satellite career centres in every HDB town in Singapore, in order to help job-seekers.

Currently, there are five career centres island-wide, and there are also partnerships with NTUC’s e2i, the Social Service Offices, the CDCs, the Self-Help Groups such as MENDAKI.

The government has also built up the range of digital services on MyCareersFuture.sg, and rolled out several thematic Virtual Career Fairs (VCFs) in sectors such as ICT (information and communications technology), logistics and transport, along with healthcare and community care, prior to the Circuit Breaker.

SGUnited jobs & skills package will place up to 100,000 locals in opportunities for jobs, traineeships and skills training

Teo shared the scope of the enormous challenge in the current effort to generate close to 100,000 opportunities in jobs, traineeships and skills training through the SGUnited Jobs and Skills package.

"As a millennial might put it, it’s an epic challenge to create new pathways for 100,000 people under such circumstances", she said.

For context, Teo pointed out that for the past three years, Workforce Singapore and its partners had placed an average of 29,000 locals into jobs annually.

She further highlighted the presence of a new kind of mismatch, largely regarding timing, stating:

"Many job-seekers will be hungry for work and school leavers eager to start their careers. But employers will be hesitant and not yet ready to hire. After all, they may not themselves have enough visibility about the business. As a result, there will likely be many more job-seekers than jobs available. And we must expect many roadblocks on previously well-established pathways to jobs."

Recognising the enormity of the task, Teo said that Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has described the National Jobs Council (NJC) as a “national team” to rally and mobilise every possible partner to build up a pipeline of such opportunities, catering to multiple sectors and every skills level.

Employers will also be encouraged to offer traineeships

With regard to traineeships, Teo elaborated that the aim was to open up 25,000 traineeship pathways for both recent graduates and mid-career job-seekers.

Teo then highlighted that thus far, over 1000 companies, including multiple SMEs, had stepped forward in offering to host over 11,000 trainees. This has included companies such as Carousell.

In acknowledging that some employers might hold back job offers, Teo added that the government will also encourage them to offer traineeship or attachment pathways "through meaningful funding support."

She further acknowledged that while traineeships "may not provide the same security as a job," they will still provide industry-relevant experience and place a job-seeker in a better position when the economy recovers.

Skills training to be expanded via CET Centres and Institutes of Higher Learning

In addition, pathways for skills training will be expanded through Continuing Education and Training (CET) Centres, as well as Institutes of Higher Learning such as universities and polytechnics.

Teo added that it can be useful to "acquire new skills through a structured programme" which can have a combination of classroom training and company involvement such as industrial project work.

As such, the aim is to create 30,000 such pathways as part of the skills aspect of the SGUnited Jobs & Skills Package.

Top image screenshot from gov.sg YouTube