Companies Taking Part and Remaining in SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme

80 Mr Darryl David asked the Minister for Education (a) how many companies have participated in the SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme (ELP) since it first started; (b) how many companies are currently on the ELP and what is the attrition rate of ELP companies; and (c) what is the percentage of graduates from the ELP who continue to be in full-time employment after the ELP companies have fulfilled their mandatory employment commitments to graduates.

Mr Lawrence Wong: To date, about 1,400 companies have participated in the SkillsFuture Work-Study Certificate, Work-Study Diploma and Work-Study Post Diploma Programmes, which were formerly known as the SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme. This number has steadily increased from the 34 at launch in 2015.

Currently, 378 companies are on these Work-Study programmes. We do not track the attrition rate of companies, as their participation vary from intake to intake depending on their business outlook and hiring plans. An MOE survey conducted on these programmes that concluded between May 2018 and April 2019 found that 89% of the employers who participated reported that they would continue to participate in the programme. The same survey also found that 87% of the graduates were employed in a full-time permanent job six months after graduation. As of October 2019, 59% of the graduates remained with the company that trained them during the Work-Study Programme.