Fortitude Budget: S$2b SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package to create 100,000 opportunities

SOME S$2 billion will be set aside for the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package, which is designed to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on employment.

This package will create close to 100,000 opportunities in jobs, traineeships and skills training, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said in his Fortitude Budget - the government's fourth economic relief package to support Singaporeans through the Covid-19 pandemic.

More than 40,000 job opportunities will be created in both the public and private sectors.

Mr Heng said the public sector will bring forward its hiring to meet long-term needs in areas such as early childhood education, healthcare and long-term care. Together with jobs to meet short-term needs related to Covid-19 operations, such as healthcare declaration assistants and swabbers, the public sector will create 15,000 jobs.

Government agencies will also work with businesses to create 25,000 jobs.

"Many businesses have stepped forward, with openings in a wide range of job roles, such as computer engineers and machine operators. I encourage more businesses to do even more in the coming months," Mr Heng said.

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Capacity in career conversion programmes will also be expanded to equip Singaporeans with the skills to take on these jobs, he said.

This includes initiatives such as the Place-and-Train conversion programmes under the Adapt and Grow initiative, and company-led training programmes under the TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) initiative.

Mr Heng noted that TeSA has been successful since its launch in Budget 2016. As of December last year, more than 1,000 have been trained in partnership with industry leaders such as Accenture, DBS Bank and Google.

He added that over 90 per cent of them have been emplaced in info-communications and technology-related roles.

"I look forward to more industry partners coming on board to help prepare more Singaporeans for a future where digitalisation becomes increasingly important," Mr Heng said.