Singapore manufacturing firms offering 6,300 vacancies with bulk for PMETs

NEARLY 1,000 manufacturing firms are offering 6,300 openings for job, traineeship, attachment and training positions, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said on Wednesday morning.

These firms have come onboard the SGUnited Jobs and Skills programmes and the 6,300 figure does not include new positions that some firms may fill directly without notifying the Ministry of Manpower or Workforce Singapore (WSG), Mrs Teo told reporters after a visit to the Becton Dickinson Asia Headquarters in Jurong East.

The bulk - close to 5,100 - of the openings are for professionals, managers, executives and technicians, and include positions for engineering professionals, electronic engineers, manufacturing engineering, production clerks and administrative professionals. The median monthly pay for these roles range from S$1,500 to S$4,700.

The biomedical science sub-sector remains a bright spot, with 50 firms signed on to the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package and looking for about 400 workers and trainees. Many of the roles offered are technical, including biotechnologist, automation engineer, chemist, validation specialist, quality assurance manager and microbiologist.

Mrs Teo said the government will continue to provide heavily subsidised training to help those who wish to move into or take on new roles in manufacturing.

Some 62 per cent of the 730 job seekers who have joined the sector through the SGUnited Jobs and Skills programmes are mid-career individuals who participated in WSG's Professional Conversion Programmes.