Participation in SkillsFuture Singapore programmes falls in 2022; still higher than 2019

PARTICIPATION in SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) programmes fell year on year in 2022, but were still above pre-pandemic highs, said the statutory board on Thursday (Mar 23).

In 2022, about 560,000 individuals and 20,000 enterprises participated in SSG-supported programmes.

This represented a fall in participation from 2021, which had the highest annual numbers due to extensive training support programmes to tide through the pandemic. But 2022 participation was still higher than in 2019.

More than 192,000 individuals used their SkillsFuture Credit to offset course fees. The top three areas of training were food and beverage, information and communications technology, and security and investigation.

Demand for short SkillsFuture Series courses – which focus on areas such as data analytics, tech-enabled services and urban solutions – remained high, with more than 32,000 people attending them.

More than 1,900 individuals joined SkillsFuture Work-Study Programmes, which were delivered with more than 600 participating companies. The programme allowed attendees to gain work experience while pursuing industry-recognised qualifications.

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In a survey by SSG, 97 per cent of about 58,000 trainees indicated that they were able to perform better at work after undergoing SSG-supported training.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) comprised 96 per cent of the 20,000 companies that participated in SSG-supported training programmes.

More than 5,000 new enterprises used SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit to offset course fees for their employees. (see *Amendment note)

Last year, close to 500 firms participated in National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning programmes, which aim to help companies – especially SMEs – build workplace learning capabilities.

As part of the SkillsFuture Queen Bee initiative introduced in 2020, more than 700 SMEs tapped the guidance and expertise of industry leaders to enhance their employees’ skills development last year.

*Amendment note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that more than 5,000 enterprises used SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit to offset course fees for their employees in 2022. It is more than 5,000 new enterprises.