Written Answer by Mrs Josephine Teo Minister for Manpower to Parliamentary Question on resident employment rate and initiatives to help find jobs

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1153 OF 2018 FOR THE SITTING ON 9 JULY 2018
QUESTION NO. 849 FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

MP: Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the resident employment rate for those aged 25 to 64 years with education qualification below secondary school level; and (b) what are the initiatives to help those in this category who are currently unemployed to find a job.

Answer

1. The employment rate for residents¹ aged 25 to 64 with below secondary qualifications was 67% in 2017², higher than most OECD countries. Of the remaining 33% who were not in employment, 30%-points were outside the labour force (i.e. not looking for a job), mainly due to family responsibilities and health-related reasons, and the remaining were unemployed (i.e. looking for a job). In 2017, the annual average unemployment rate of 2.6% for residents with below secondary qualifications was lower than the overall resident annual average unemployment rate of 3.1%.

2. There is a wide range of support under the Government’s Adapt and Grow initiative to assist unemployed jobseekers, including those with below secondary qualifications.
   - To address “missed matches”, Workforce Singapore’s (WSG) Careers Connect and NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) centres provide a suite of career matching services that caters to the different needs of each jobseeker.
   - To address mismatches in skills or expectations, there are programmes such as Place and Train and Career Trial to help jobseekers secure a job.
   

3. Through the Adapt and Grow initiative, the Government placed about 2,500 jobseekers with below secondary qualifications into new jobs and careers in 2017.