5 growth industries picked for job-matching help: Swee Say (Amended)

Singapore

RESOURCES will be poured into helping job-seekers to land jobs in five growth industries, with senior political office holders coordinating the work in each of these sectors.

The five growth industries, which are at great risk of disruption, are infocommunications & media, wholesale trade, healthcare, financial services and professional services.

Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say announced on Wednesday that Second Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo will spearhead the drive to match professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) to jobs in these five sectors. She will be joined by four Senior Ministers of State, who will among them cover the five sectors:

The ministers have already started work; new sectors may be added to the list of five areas later, Mr Lim told reporters at the Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) in Paya Lebar. He was there to attend the launch of Workforce Singapore's career centres, now renamed Careers Connect. These centres offer job-seekers an expanded suite of customised career-matching services; employers can obtain recruitment advice to improve job fit.

Meanwhile, Singapore's tripartite system - comprising the government, employers and unions working in tandem - will monitor how current job seekers are affected by industrial changes, and look into retraining strategies for upcoming jobs.

Mr Lim noted that the workforce has about 190,000 local entrants and re-entrants each year. Last year, the vast majority of 194,000 entrants were able to find jobs on their own; those who needed more help approached Workforce Singapore and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i).

Last year, of the 20,000 to 25,000 jobseekers who were assisted through various programmes, two thirds were successfully placed into jobs.

Three new free programmes have been introduced for jobseekers needing in-depth career advice and follow-up. They are Career Catalyst (a coaching programme to help them draw up action plans to reach their career goals), Career Recharger (a career counselling programme), and Career 360 (a peer-support programme).

WSG chief executive Tan Choon Shian said: "WSG's Careers Connect is where career aspirations and hiring needs connect, and serves as the bridging point between jobseekers and employers. We will continue to do our best to minimise missed matches in the labour market, through effective partnerships with individuals and employers."

Amendment Note: This story has been corrected to reflect that two-thirds of job-seekers were placed in jobs, not were helped.