Parliament: Enhanced Career Trial programme to give mid-career workers a shot at better jobs

[SINGAPORE] A programme that allows long-term unemployed workers to try out new jobs and assess new careers will be enhanced, with a doubling in the training allowance to S$2,400 a month.

In a speech during the debate on the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) budget, second manpower minister Josephine Teo said the current Work Trial programme, which began in 2016, will be enhanced and renamed as the Career Trial programme.

The programme, which gives companies and workers up to three months to assess each other with Government bearing the cost, had placed 500 workers in new jobs last year.

The enhanced programme aims to provide workers with more opportunities to try out better jobs, and help companies which need more manpower to assess jobseekers, Mrs Teo said.

Under the Career Trial programme, the Government will double the maximum training allowance from S$1,200 a month to S$2,400 a month.

The salary support to employers and the additional retention incentive will be available for all jobseekers unemployed for six months or more, instead of only for those unemployed for 12 months or more previously.

The enhanced programme will also feature an increase to the maximum salary support that the Government will give employers, from S$3,600 to S$5,400 per jobseeker over a six-month period.

THE STRAITS TIMES