NTUC to match PMEs to new jobs ahead of displacement

Singapore

THE labour movement is piloting an initiative to match soon-to-be-displaced white-collared workers with new jobs in a bid to minimise the duration of unemployment.

The NTUC Job Security Council (JSC) will place professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) into new jobs ahead of displacement, labour chief Ng Chee Meng said during the Budget debate in Parliament on Wednesday.

This initiative will be operationalised by the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) under the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).

If a skill gap exists between the existing and new job, JSC will work with training partners to provide such PMEs with relevant training, a statement from NTUC said.

NTUC also said the JSC is an ecosystem of companies that are looking to hire and companies that may have to let go of workers.

There are currently more than 4,000 companies on board the JSC, from across different sectors and more than 90 per cent are small and medium-sized enterprises. NTUC said the companies together cover over 500,000 workers.

Mr Ng, who is NTUC's secretary-general, said job security in today's context does not necessarily mean guaranteeing the same job for life.

"More and more, job security means providing workers with what they need for skills progression and job placement, which will improve their work prospects and give them and their families peace of mind in an ever-changing economy," he told the house.

Mr Ng's announcement comes as the government is expecting a "deeper, more wide-ranging impact" on the Singapore's economy, due to slowing economic growth, geopolitical uncertainties and the Covid-19 outbreak.

"To give you an idea, hotel occupancy rates have gone down to as low as 35 per cent from highs of 85 per cent and beyond. Our taxi and private-hire drivers have given me feedback that income has dipped up to 40 per cent, and even attractions in Singapore have seen visitorship drop by as much as 90 per cent.

"So many workers are anxious, they don't know if they can keep their jobs, and worry also about reduced incomes given less work, less overtime," Mr Ng said.

During the session, Koh Poh Koon, deputy secretary-general of NTUC, also gave an update on the Company Training Committees (CTC), which the labour movement announced last April.

CTCs help unionised companies work out their specific business needs and translate those needs into a targeted training plan for employees. To date, 352 companies have formed CTCs across various industry clusters, and NTUC has partnered the government's research arm A*Star to train a group of 28 industry training officers to conduct the operations technology roadmapping process, Mr Koh said.

He said: "In coping with the near term challenges brought about by Covid-19, our companies should not forget about the long-term goal of growing and expanding their businesses through deep industry transformation."