Written Answer by Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng to PQ on Mandatory Retrenchment Notifications Received by Government and Proportion of Tech Firms Amongst Notifying Companies

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1813 OF 2023 FOR THE SITTING ON 20 MARCH 2023
QUESTION NO. 4379 ORAL ANSWER CONVERTED TO WRITTEN ANSWER

MP: Mr Desmond Choo 

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) how many Mandatory Retrenchment Notifications have been received by the Ministry in 2023; (b) of these notifications, how many of them are from the Big Tech sector; and (c) what is the number of companies that have failed to comply with the requirement of Mandatory Retrenchment Notifications. 

Answer

1. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has received about 850 retrenchment notices since the start of 2023, and about a quarter of the notices were from the Information & Communications sector.

2. To ensure that affected workers receive timely support, it is important for retrenching firms to comply with the requirement to submit notices of retrenchment to MOM within five working days after informing affected employees. Three in four of the retrenchment notices received were submitted on time. Among the late submissions, about 65% were submitted before the retrenchment took place, which was still useful in providing Workforce Singapore or Employment and Employability Institute an opportunity to offer employment assistance to affected employees. Employers who submitted notifications late are issued with caution letters.