Impact of Softer Economy on Employment of Recent Graduates and Older Workers

15 Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the Ministry's projection on unemployment for the first quarter of 2017; (b) what is the average waiting time for local and foreign university graduates to get into the workforce under current circumstances; and (c) how is the softer job market impacting on the older people who are in the workforce.

The Minister for Manpower (Mr Lim Swee Say): Mdm Speaker, the Singapore economy is projected to grow at a modest pace of 1% to 3% this year. The Ministry does not make forecasts of the unemployment rate. Nevertheless, amid current global economic conditions and continued economic restructuring, short-term fluctuations in the unemployment rate are expected.

Based on the annual Graduate Employment Survey coordinated by the Ministry of Education, around nine in 10 graduates from our autonomous universities found jobs within six months from the completion of their final examinations in 2015. This is consistent with the previous three cohorts.

For older residents, both their employment and unemployment rates have moved up. In 2015, over 98% of local employees who wished to continue working were offered re-employment upon reaching the age of 62. This has contributed to an increase in the employment rate of local residents aged 55 to 64 to a high of 67.3% in June 2016. However, the unemployment rate for local residents aged 50 and above has also increased from 2.1% in September 2014 to 2.3% in September 2016, in other words, an increase of 0.2% over a period of two years. There was also a corresponding rise in the long-term unemployment rate by 0.2% from 0.8% to 1% over the same two-year period from September 2014 to September 2016. So, both the unemployment rate and long-term unemployment rate for local residents have gone up by 0.2%.

The Government will continue to provide extra support to encourage the employment of older workers. These include the Special Employment Credit (SEC), which is a wage offset of up to 8% of monthly wages for hiring Singaporean workers aged 55 and above and earning not more than $4,000 a month. An additional wage offset of up to 3% is provided for those aged 65 and above. From 1 July 2017, the re-employment age will also be raised to 67.

Under the Adapt and Grow initiative, we are also providing extra career and employment support to older workers, both the rank-and-file workers and professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs). Out of more than 11,000 workers placed by the Workforce Singapore and the National Trades Union Congress' Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) career centres in the first nine months of 2016, 39% or two out of five successful jobseekers were aged 50 and above. The Ministry of Manpower will continue to work closely with our tripartite partners to extend support to all local jobseekers as we go through this period of economic transition.

Mdm Speaker: Dr Lim Wee Kiak.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang): Mdm Speaker, I would like to clarify with the Minister regarding the unemployment rates. On the ground, many of us have seen more residents coming forward to the Meet-the-People Sessions (MPS) seeking help, especially for those who are above 40 years old. If they lose their jobs, it is very hard for them to find a job. Even if they find a job, usually the pay is very much lower than what they had previously. So, there is also this issue about underemployment. Sometimes, after a while, they have no choice but to take up any employment that they can find. I mean they are not choosy but, on the other hand, they do have a family to feed. Our hearts are with them and we want to know how we can help them further.

The other question I want to ask the Minister is regarding the Place and Train and all the placement programmes. We have written letters to the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and all the agencies, including e2i, to help them. What is the current success rate? When we send a resident over, that is the success rate? How do you track the success rate of e2i as well as WDA in these placement programmes? After they have placed the residents, do you continue to follow up to make sure that there is continued employment?

I have also heard from my residents complaining to me that some employers take them in for a while, just to take advantage of the Government's scheme. Within three months, they say "You are not suitable." The residents are being fired again, and they are back to square one.

Mr Lim Swee Say: Mdm Speaker, we pay special attention to those jobseekers who need that extra help from Workforce Singapore (WSG) and e2i. Not all jobseekers need our help. For example, last year, we conducted more than 90 job fairs for the employers to offer their job openings to jobseekers. We encourage the jobseekers to walk in on their own so that they do not have to sign up with e2i or WSG. We allow the matching to go on, on its own.

For those jobseekers who are unable to secure jobs through such a platform, that is when they will go to see their Members of Parliament or come to WSG or e2i. What we do is that we track each and every one individually, in terms of when they first contacted us, what kind of services we provide to them, either send them for employability camp or send them for career coaching, skills upgrading or job placement, and so on.

On the whole, out of every three jobseekers coming to us, those who need the extra help, within the same calendar year, we were able to help two-thirds of them, about 65%, to successfully find jobs. There is still the one-third. For example, right now, we have about a few thousand still on our jobseekers' database. We will continue to help them.

There is one group that we pay special attention to, "the long-term unemployed". In other words, if they are on our list for six months or longer, we pay special attention to them, whether it is through the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) or Career Support Programme (CSP).

On the whole, the package of Adapt and Grow initiatives which was strengthened last year has worked well and the outcome has been quite encouraging. As I have mentioned in my reply, successful jobseekers are becoming more inclusive, including the older workers.

That is not to say that we have done everything we can do. In fact, right now, my Ministry, together with the various agencies, including the Ministry of Finance, is looking into what more we can do to further enhance the Adapt and Grow initiatives in the coming years.