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MOM’s mission is to develop a globally competitive workforce and build a great workplace, for a cohesive society and a secure economic future for all Singaporeans. A total budget of $328 million (including $84 million from the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund) has been allocated to MOM for FY2007.
MOM’s 3 strategic outcomes support the realisation of its mission and vision:
- Globally Competitive Workforce
A workforce with the right numbers and right skills that drives economic growth and meets industry needs.
- Income Security & Lifelong Employability for Singaporeans
Enhancing retirement adequacy and facilitating opportunities for workers to remain employable.
- Workplaces for Optimal Performance
Building safe and healthy workplace communities with good employment practices that optimise workers’ contributions and businesses’ performance.
Globally Competitive Workforce
With a more competitive global economy, Singapore needs quality manpower in the right numbers for continued economic growth. MOM ensures a flexible and responsive labour market through our policies and programmes. These help Singapore present a competitive value proposition to both skilled manpower as well as investors.
The Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) helps local workers remain employable through upgrading their skills. MOM helps businesses leverage on skilled foreign manpower where there are skills and quantity gaps in our local workforce. At the same time, MOM prevents abuse of our work pass framework with a robust, intelligence-led enforcement regime.
This ensures that we have the necessary manpower to support investments, employment creation and economic growth.
$218 million (65% of MOM’s FY2007 budget) will be spent on initiatives to build a Globally Competitive Workforce. The key initiatives and programmes for the year include:
Enhanced Workforce Profile that Meets Industry Needs
- Workforce Development
Over the past few years, WDA has achieved progress in enhancing the employability and competitiveness of our local workforce. It works closely with NTUC, the economic agencies and industry associations to address the manpower challenges in key industry sectors. To increase our overall investment in Continuous Education and Training, the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund will be topped up by $100 million.
The Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) system makes training for our workers more accessible and provides skills upgrading pathways for them. This includes the Employability Skills Systems (ESS), which provides a non-academic upgrading pathway for workers.
WDA is also building up adult training institutions to deliver WSQ courses. WDA will also continue to translate the WSQ frameworks into training programmes and other initiatives, to re-skill workers and help jobseekers find jobs.
- Services Competitiveness
MOM will continue with the momentum created by S2006 to develop a stronger service culture through the Go-the-Extra Mile for Service (GEMS) movement and the National Skills Framework for Service Excellence, known as the Service Excellence Training Approach (SETA).
SETA aims to raise the service levels of our workforce through the upgrading of skills to meet the needs of a rapidly developing services sector. SETA has 19 competency units which cover the Operations, Supervisory and Managerial levels and will be fully launched by mid-2007.
WDA will continue to work with agencies such as STB and SPRING to enhance services competitiveness in Singapore. This will raise overall industry service standards and better position our workforce for the growing services sector.
- Talent Attraction and Overseas Singaporeans
In FY2007, $7 million will go towards industry outreach and talent attraction efforts, so that companies can access the skilled manpower they need. MOM will continue to reach out to overseas Singaporeans to keep them informed of the employment opportunities in Singapore, and to global talent who can contribute to our economy.
Flexible and Responsive Labour Market
- Wage Restructuring
We must continue to push ahead with our wage restructuring efforts as flexible wage structures enable companies to respond rapidly to changing business conditions, enhance their competitiveness and help retain jobs.
- Opportunities for the Economically Inactive
In the coming year, MOM aims to better understand the needs of the economically inactive, and assess how more part-time or flexible work arrangements could help members of this group to return to the workforce.
- Flexible Foreign Manpower framework
In FY2007, $45 million will go towards initiatives to facilitate the entry of skilled foreigners to meet the needs of businesses e.g. the Personalised Employment Pass (PEP) was introduced on 1 January 2007 to help retain highly skilled foreigners in Singapore.
- Enforcement
To ensure the integrity of our work pass system and the maintenance of high employment standards, MOM will spend $18 million in FY2007 to strengthen its enforcement capabilities to better detect and arrest employment offenders.
Income Security and Lifelong Employability for Singaporeans
MOM plays a key role in preparing Singaporeans to meet the challenges of an ageing population, by helping them build up their retirement adequacy. At the same time, globalisation and the effect of technological changes have given rise to new challenges of skills mismatch and widening income disparities.
In this environment, MOM seeks to create the opportunities for vulnerable workers to share in the economic progress of the nation. To achieve these outcomes, we will be undertaking several major initiatives:
- Improving CPF Returns
In Jan 2007, CPF Board announced caps on sales charges and expense ratios for the CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS) investment funds to lower the cost of investing for members. MOM will also continue to work with CPF Board to enhance returns on the savings of CPF members.
- Workfare for Low Wage Workers (LWWs)
The second portion of the Workfare Bonus Scheme will also be paid in 2007. We will continue to enhance our policies and programmes for employment support of LWWs.
- Older Workers (OWs)
In FY2007, MOM will work with the other tripartite partners to implement the initiatives in the final report of the Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers. WDA will continue to operate the ADVANTAGE! Scheme to motivate and enable employers to recruit and retain older workers.
Workplaces for Optimal Performance
The welfare of our workers in the workplace is a priority, even as we improve the flexibility and responsiveness of our labour market. Good workplace conditions and practices are also essential for any business to achieve optimal performance.
MOM seeks to improve on the safety and health standards of workplaces through driving the adoption of good and progressive employment practices, whilst ensuring that basic standards are adhered to.
$52 million dollars (15% of MOM’s FY2007 budget) will be spent on initiatives related to building Workplaces for Optimal Performance. Major initiatives and programmes for FY2007 include:
Safe and Healthy Workplaces
In FY2007, $31 million will be spent to protect the safety and health of workers. These efforts will contribute towards our target of halving the fatality rate of workers by 2015.
- Building Industry Capability
In FY2007, MOM will continue to help companies build up their capabilities to raise safety and health standards through initiatives such as developing competency standards, conducting risk assessments and enhancing worker training. Efforts will also be directed towards raising the competency of safety professionals such as safety officers and auditors. These initiatives will also enable the industry to take greater ownership of safety outcomes.
- Enhancing the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Regulatory Framework
Enforcement efforts for FY2007 will be focused on areas of concern, e.g. workplaces or work areas with high injury rates. We will implement a knowledge management system to identify key areas of workplace safety and health concern to focus our enforcement efforts. Penalties imposed on offenders will be commensurate with the level of risk created by the safety lapses and the extent of poor safety management.
- WSH Promotion and Recognition
We will enhance the roles of the industry-led Workplace Safety and Health Advisory Committee (WSHAC) to champion initiatives by industry to raise workplace safety and health standards, including to encourage industry sharing and learning of best practices. Best practices and exemplary companies will also be recognised.
Harmonious Industrial Relations & Good Employment Standards
The close tripartite relationship between the Government, employers and unions offers Singapore a competitive advantage that is integral to our economic success. $17 million will be used in FY2007 to further strengthen labour relations and tripartite cooperation, and enhance the quality of our workplaces.
- Enhancing Tripartism
MOM will continue to build on our strong tripartite partnership by working with our partners:
- Promoting Good Employment Practices
Our promotion efforts will focus on workplace safety and health, good employment conditions and practices, work-life harmony, fair employment practices, and skills development. We will pay particular attention to the needs of vulnerable and older groups. This will enable workers to be more productive and engaged in the workplace, which will in turn make companies more competitive.
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