On Monday (July 22), Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said jobseekers can still land quality jobs in sectors like air transport even though other industries have been affected by the economic slowdown.
She said that there are currently about 60,000 vacancies to be filled, with about half of them for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).
Mrs Teo added that despite some weak sectors in our economy today, the “overall vacancies rate is quite healthy”.
She noted that most of these jobs are good quality jobs but the focus should be on how to equip Singaporeans with the skills to grab those job opportunities.
Speaking at the Sats Inflight Catering Centre 2, Mrs Teo announced a new initiative that helps reskill white-collar air transport workers affected by the business transformation.
Another initiative is targeted at mid-career professionals who are looking to enter the aviation sector.
These initiatives aim to help these workers pick up skills within the industry and widen their skillset.
Air transport is one of the sectors that has good growth momentum, she said, whereas manufacturing and trade-related sectors are “facing headwinds” and they will be given support.
As companies in the air transport sector transform to take advantage of opportunities, “some jobs will become obsolete” but they may need new manpower in other areas, said the minister.
The new Redeployment Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) for Air Transport Professionals tackles this issue.
According to this, companies looking to reskill or redeploy their workers will receive subsidies for workers’ salaries for up to six months, during the time the workers are undergoing retraining under this scheme.
Workers’ training programme, planned by firms, can include both classroom training and on-the-job training, and will be reviewed by programme administrator Republic Polytechnic.
If requirements are met and plans are approved, companies can receive up to 90% subsidy of the employees monthly salary, capped at $6,000 a month.
The programme is expected to benefit 100 PMETs in the air transport sector in the next two years, while the programme offered to mid-career professionals switching to aviation will increase its capacity from 100 to 200.
Singapore will continue to grow a diversified economy through supporting companies in various sectors, Mrs Teo said, and challenged companies to step up to the plate.
“You no longer just pick and choose and say that we only want to grow certain sectors; you actually want a more diversified landscape,” she said.
“It’s very much up to the company, and very much up to the industry, to take advantage of the support that is available to help them ride the next wave.”
Featured Image Credit: HR Asia Media
