Attention to Employment Prospects for Persons with Special Needs amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

16 Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked the Minister for Social and Family Development what has been the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the employment prospects and status of those with special needs and persons with disabilities and how is the Ministry progressing with measures to raise inclusivity during this challenging period.

17 Dr Tan Wu Meng asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) whether the Ministry monitors (i) the retrenchment rates for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and (ii) the proportion later found to have been "disguised retrenchments"; (b) if so, how do these findings compare with employees who are not PWDs; and (c) what is the average duration before a retrenched PWD finds new employment.

The Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M): Mr Speaker, can I take Question Nos 16 and 17 together, please?

Mr Speaker: Yes, please.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: Thank you. Based on the latest available survey data from MOM, there were 4.9 residents retrenched per 1,000 resident employees in the first half of 2020. This is higher than the incidence rate for the same period a year ago, which was at 2.5 residents retrenched per 1,000 resident employees.

The re-entry rate of retrenched residents in the first half of 2020 was 61.4%, lower than that in the same period a year ago, which was at 63.2%. MOM does not have a further breakdown of these indicators by persons with disabilities and persons without disabilities. Similarly, we do not track statistics on complaints of "disguised retrenchments" from persons with disabilities, or PWDs. That said, I would like to assure Members that as the Minister for Manpower explained to this House on 4 June this year, MOM will take appropriate actions against employers who disguise retrenchment to avoid fulfilling their contractual obligations.

To help retrenched workers secure new jobs, the Taskforce for Responsible Retrenchment and Employment Facilitation proactively reaches out to them to provide timely employment support. This includes matching them to suitable jobs and training opportunities under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package. In the first half of 2020, the Taskforce reached out to about 8,200 affected workers. The Taskforce will continue to engage retrenching companies on responsible retrenchment practices.

SG Enable and its job placement and job support partners have implemented additional measures during this challenging period. SG Enable has reached out to PWDs who stopped working since the start of the year, to encourage them to sign up for employment support services. Job support initiatives are offered online as far as possible, while considering the accessibility needs of PWDs.

SG Enable's Virtual Career Fair held from April to May 2020 offered over 100 job opportunities, and another 150 job opportunities were advertised during their online Training and Career Fair in September. To facilitate e-learning, SG Enable helped training providers to convert lessons into online modules. Where training cannot be conducted virtually, SG Enable has put in place safe management practices to ensure that the health of clients and trainers are not compromised.

These additional efforts to support PWDs come on top of existing training and job placement and job support services that SG Enable provides under the Open Door Programme. The Open Door Programme training grant was recently enhanced in July, with more course fee subsidies and training allowance, as well as a new training commitment award of $100 per completed eligible training course. We will replace the wage offsets for employers of PWDs under the Special Employment Credit or SEC and Additional SEC with the Enabling Employment Credit or EEC, when the former expires in December 2020.

The EEC will provide employers that hire Singaporean PWDs earning below $4,000 a month with wage offsets of up to 20% of the employee's monthly income. Employers hiring PWDs who have not been working for at least six months will receive an additional wage offset of up to 10% for the first six months of employment. This is in addition to the Jobs Growth Incentive or JGI announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat yesterday. Under the JGI, employers will receive the highest tier of 50% wage support for additional new hires of PWDs from September 2020 to February 2021.

It is encouraging that despite the challenges of COVID-19, many employers are still committed to inclusive hiring and over 140 organisations have signed the President's Challenge Enabling Employment Pledge since it was launched in March this year. While many PWDs and their care-givers tell us that they are temporarily exiting the workforce due to concerns over contracting COVID-19, we will continue to engage them and strive to serve more jobseekers as the situation stabilises and more activities resume. We are also working through the National Jobs Council to provide further support for those who need it, and we will announce these plans when ready.

Mr Speaker: Dr Tan Wu Meng.

Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): I thank the Minister for his answer and for his sharing about the efforts to continue shaping the market and to bend the arc of our society towards further inclusivity. I have got two supplementary questions for the Minister.

The first is on statistics. Would the Minister consider tracking the statistics mentioned in my Parliamentary Question more actively and more deliberately? I say this because sometimes, to understand the situation, we need to seek truth from data and seek truth from facts. And by having that data, we are in a better position to understand if certain companies or certain sectors may be disproportionately retrenching PWDs.

My second supplementary question is: what efforts are ongoing by the Ministry to help shape the awareness of employers, the awareness of what a PWD can bring to the workplace in an intangible way. For example, the power of having a PWD team mate inspire other colleagues?

And if I may just seek Mr Speaker's indulgence, I have a resident, a young lady, who survived a car crash. She moves around in a wheelchair but got back to work, started a family and has continued in work as a working mother. But recently, during COVID, she was retrenched by a company which has a significant presence in the Singapore private sector and that actually had an emotional impact on neighbours and fellow residents.

So, it is important, Mr Speaker, I would put to the Minister that we look at shaping that intangible element as well.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: I thank the Member for the supplementary questions. For the first question, we will work with MOM to see whether it is something practical. Because to get the data on unemployment or employability, all these have certain angle of statistical reliability which, in the case of the PWD, is a very small segment. It is not like male and female – that is statistically significant. Therefore, we may need to customise how we get this data and how we report this data.

But nevertheless, as I had mentioned if there are any complaints that may arise from their parents or the disabled themselves that they were unfairly treated either through retrenchment or employment practices, MOM, as well as MSF will take action.

Secondly, on the efforts of building this spirit of inclusivity in our community, it is something that we will never stop getting this work done, we will never stop doing this work. I think for the longest time, we have been putting out awareness campaigns, but we also put in enabling courses that employers can get involved in. As an example, there is a training grant under SG Enable curated training courses where we support up to 90% of co-workers to build up their capabilities and confidence in hiring and integrating PWDs into the workplace. This is amongst a few incentives and framework with which we are putting to the employers to enable and encourage them to be inclusive in hiring PWDs.

Mr Chong Kee Hiong (Bishan-Toa Payoh): As persons with special needs or disabilities are more vulnerable, particularly during periods of crisis, does the Ministry have case managers to follow up with those who lose their jobs or who have been retrenched so that you can render direct assistance?

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: Certainly, for those who have come forward and ask for help, we will render the help. But if Members know of anyone in their wards who may not be coming forward to ask for help, we will be happy to hear from you.

Mr Speaker: Ms Denise Phua.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): Speaker, I would like to thank MSF and the Ministers. They have been some of the strongest partners for the PWD community. I have some comments and to seek Minister's comments as well.

First of all, issues like employment, healthcare, education, mobility, transport and so forth, these are the basic essential rights that every citizen should have. So, when we grant these rights, it is not meant to inspire other people so that they become better persons although that is one of the desired outcomes. Basic rights are actually where we should start from, that persons with disabilities are equal members of our society and therefore, things like work, the right to be schooled, to be educated, to have healthcare and to work whenever possible, these are the basic rights. So, this is the starting point when we look at issues such as these.

The second thing is this. While the COVID-19 pandemic has really raised challenges, especially in the areas of technology and the fast pace of change that affect Singaporeans and especially the PWDs, there are other root issues like the unemployment and the under employment of PWDs that need to be looked at. There is already a work group, thanks to MSF – Minister Desmond and Mr Masagos and team. There is already a Workgroup looking at this. But because of the question —

Mr Speaker: Ms Phua, is there a question there somewhere?

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: — because of the GE and the changes, the results and the progress updates are still not there. Hence, I request the Ministry to speed up the work of this work group and get those things that can get going, get going first, so that those things that need discussion do not have to wait till the expiry of the Enabling Masterplan. I seek Minister's indulgence and support of that.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: The Member has the Ministry's and the Minister's support. The answer is yes.