There will be 25,000 to 40,000 PMET jobs created per year over the next few years.
And before you start wondering where they are, the government has just identified strong sectors as the financial, professional services, healthcare, wholesale trade as well as the infocomm and media sectors.
These are the industries with major job offerings in the future.
According to Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say, these industries were also selected for being the “most impacted” by tech advancements. This could translate to restructuring risks and job obsolescence.
However, it also means new roles could be created in the process.
Of course, Minister Lim notes this does not mean other sectors will be neglected, as they plan to “support jobseekers to look for jobs in all sectors”.
What Is The Government Doing to Help?
Leading the effort to pinpoint the two jobs conditions (obsolescence and creation) is Second Manpower Minister Josephine Teo.
Meanwhile, Ministers such as Dr Koh Poh Koon (Trade and Industry), Dr Amy Khor (Health, Ms Indranee Rajah (Finance) and Dr Janil Puthucheary (Communications and Information) will serve supporting roles.
But it’s not just them, 3 career centres have also undergone rebranding to help more jobseekers.
Located at Our Tampines Hub, Woodlands Civic Centre and the Lifelong Learning Institute (Paya Lebar), these new Careers Connect centres now provide “counselling services, instant tips from career coaches, or contacts for support”.
And after 3 months of piloting and 160 test participants, the centres have also launched 3 new programmes.
The first is Career Recharger, which helps the unemployed cope with emotional challenges and building a positive mindset towards the job search.
The second is Career Catalyst, where coaches will help jobseekers chart their work preferences, skill, and action plans towards the job search.
Finally, Career 360 helps jobseekers leverage on peer network and resources to make the job hunt more efficient.
New amenities also include e-lobbies and computers where jobseekers can set up their profiles with the help of coaches on duty.
These centres are also open to employers looking for candidates, and ‘interview pods’ have been set up for companies to interview applicants right there and then.
As shared by Minister Lim, the hopes are that these centres will be able to help jobseekers overcome challenges, as well as connect to the job opportunities out there.
This initiative is rather similar to NTUC’s Future Jobs, Skills and Training (FJST) that we’ve written about previously.
This initiative aims at identifying high growth sectors and developing relevant training programmes, with the goal of helping workers prepare for future jobs.
There Are Jobs Out There
It’s just about knowing where to look.
As Minister Josephine Teo shared in a Facebook post yesterday, they have “already started the ball rolling by working with sister agencies” such as the MAS and IMDA.
And if her numbers are right, it seems things are set to look up from now on.
Featured Image Credit: NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health
