SkillsFuture Programme Attendees Who have Procured Work Related to Their Course

3 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Education (a) of those who attended the SkillsFuture training programmes in the past year, how many have successfully procured work related to their course; and (b) what efforts does the Ministry take to measure the outcomes of these training programmes.

The Minister of State for Manpower (Ms Gan Siow Huang) (for the Minister for Education): In 2019, almost 7,000 job placements were achieved through the Professional Conversion Programmes and Work-Study programmes provided by Workforce Singapore and SkillsFuture Singapore. These were Place-and-Train programmes where employment was secured before training. Another 2,400 placements were achieved through Train-and-Place programmes in 2019, where trainees received assistance from the training providers upon completion of the course.

As part of the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package to support jobseekers, we are significantly scaling up the training capacity of programmes with placement outcomes in mind. In 2020, we are offering up to 20,000 training places under the SGUnited Skills programme and another 10,000 places under the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways (Company Training) programme.

These are a subset of SkillsFuture programmes, which are designed to meet the diverse training needs of Singaporeans. There are also many shorter training courses which enable working adults to better equip themselves for their present and future jobs.

To measure the outcome of these training programmes, SkillsFuture Singapore conducts both post-course surveys on the course quality, as well as programme-specific surveys such as the Work-Study Programme Outcomes Survey. The latter collects data such as employment and retention rates, as well as wage outcomes of the graduates. In 2019, 87% of the surveyed graduates were employed in full-time jobs within six months after completing the Work-Study Programme.

Follow-up surveys are also conducted with trainees six months after completion of the SSG-funded courses to ascertain post-training outcomes. More than 80% of the trainees surveyed in 2019 indicated that they were able to perform better at work after undergoing SkillsFuture training.

We will continue to monitor the outcomes of SkillsFuture training and adapt these programmes to meet the upskilling and reskilling needs of Singaporeans.

Mr Speaker: Mr Yip.

Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang): Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank the Minister of State for her response. I am heartened to know that the Ministry is indeed tracking closely the outcome of the training programmes. Can I ask the Minister of State on some upcoming efforts by the Ministry to improve the awareness of such training programmes and how they have resulted in some positive job placements?

Ms Gan Siow Huang: I thank the hon Member Mr Yip Hon Weng for the question. Indeed, I think awareness of the SkillsFuture programme is critical, so that Singaporeans who need these programmes know where to go and how to apply for these courses. More recently, we have started partnership with several agencies to build a pool of SkillsFuture Ambassadors.These ambassadors provide face-to-face and personal services and advisory to jobseekers who want to know where these SkillsFuture training opportunities are.

With the Community Development Councils or CDCs, we also have a programme that has lasted several years, where the SkillsFuture Ambassadors in the communities conduct courses, workshops and advisories to residents who want to find out more about SkillsFuture programmes.