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Vision: A Great Workforce, A Great Workplace
Mission: To develop a globally competitive workforce and build a great workplace, for a cohesive society and a secure economic future for all Singaporeans.
MOM has been allocated $845 million (inclusive of $120 million from the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund) in FY2008.
MOM’s 3 key strategic outcomes are:
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Globally Competitive Workforce
A dynamic and flexible workforce that drives economic growth and meets industry needs.
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Income Security & Lifelong Employability for Singaporeans
Enhancing employability of Singaporeans through skills upgrading, improving retirement adequacy and strengthening income security of vulnerable workers.
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Workplaces for Optimal Performance
Safe, healthy and harmonious workplace with good employment standards and practices for all workers.
Globally Competitive Workforce
With intense global competition for investments and talent, Singapore needs to ensure that there is a ready stream of skilled manpower, local and foreign, to meet the needs of our businesses. MOM’s policies and programmes ensure that our labour market continues to be dynamic, flexible and responsive to seize new opportunities for growth.
The Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) helps local workers remain employable and competitive through skills upgrading. MOM regulates the inflow of foreign manpower to complement and augment the local workforce at different skills levels to meet the needs of businesses. At the same time, MOM also takes on an enforcement role to prevent abuses of our work pass framework.
$252 million (30% of MOM’s FY2008 budget) will be spent on building a Globally Competitive Workforce. The key initiatives and programmes are highlighted below.
Enhanced Workforce Profile that Meets Industry Needs
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Workforce Development
In 2008, MOM and WDA will implement the National Continuing Education & Training (CET) 10-year Masterplan to build a world-class CET system that will improve the skills of our resident workforce and help our workers seize new economic opportunities.
New CET institutes will be set up in key economic sectors to deliver comprehensive and high-quality training for workers. MOM and WDA will continue to work closely with government agencies and industry to ensure an adequate supply of skilled manpower for growth sectors, such as the Tourism Talent (TOTAL) Plan which aims to train and upgrade 74,000 Singaporeans for the expanding tourism sector.
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Enhancing Labour Market Sensing and Analysis
In 2007, the Labour Market Analysis Unit was set up to provide timely assessments of emerging labour market trends and challenges. The unit will build upon its industry sensing and analysis efforts and expand its coverage to more industry sectors in 2008. The unit’s assessments will support the Ministry in shaping policy responses and developing appropriate programmes to ensure that our labour market remain flexible and dynamic.
Flexible and Responsive Labour Market
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Increasing Female Labour Force Participation
In the current tight labour market, Singapore needs more skilled workers to sustain the economic growth momentum. To help female workers who might want to return to the workforce, we will seek to better understand and remove barriers that prevent them from returning to the workforce. In 2008, we will step up efforts to promote and boost the supply of part-time and flexible work opportunities for females.
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Enhanced Work Pass Processing Capabilities
The formation of the Fraud Detection Unit (FDU) aims to build up MOM’s capabilities to detect fraudulent work pass applications. This initiative will allow MOM to promptly meet businesses’ foreign manpower needs without compromising the integrity of our work pass framework.
Income Security and Lifelong Employability for Singaporeans
MOM plays a pivotal role in enhancing the income security of our workers during employment and post-retirement given longer life expectancies.
To achieve this key outcome, we will be undertaking several major initiatives in 2008:
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Enhanced Retirement Adequacy
MOM will continue to work with CPF Board to enhance returns on the savings of CPF members and further review the Minimum Sum Topping-up Scheme.
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Older Workers, Females and Low-Wage Workers
The Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers will continue to step up its efforts to raise the employment rate of older workers, including helping companies employ older workers as well as re-employ them beyond the age of 62.
To attract economically inactive persons back to the workforce, MOM has rolled out the Flexi-Works! Programme. The Tripartite Workgroup on Enhancing Employment Choices for Women will reach out to females by helping them remain in the workforce or facilitating them to re-enter the workforce.
An estimated $427 million will be paid out as part of the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme in FY2008. MOM will embark on a series of studies to assess the impact of the scheme. We will also step up efforts to enforce against non-payment of CPF contributions and encourage more low-wage workers to enter the CPF net.
Workplaces for Optimal Performance
Even as we improve the skills and employability of our workforce, we should also enhance our workplaces for optimal performance. MOM will continue to step up our efforts to inculcate a culture of safety and health in all workplaces, enhance labour-management relations and employment practices as well as enhance our foreign manpower management.
$68 million (8% of MOM’s FY2008 budget) will go towards building Workplaces for Optimal Performance. Major initiatives and programmes for FY2008 include:
Safe and Healthy Workplaces
In FY2008, $44 million has been set aside to protect the safety and health of our workers.
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Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council
Refinements will be made to the WSH 2015 Strategy to ensure that we stay on track towards raising workplace safety and health standards. The transformation of the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Advisory Committee to a Council will enable it to set standards and strengthen WSH practices, and build up a stronger workplace safety and health culture.
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WSH Act
MOM will be extending the WSH Act, which came into operation on 1 Mar 2006, to cover all workplaces in stages over three to five years. In the second phase of the exercise, six new sectors will be included in the WSH Act with effect from 1 March 2008. They include hotels and restaurants as well as healthcare activities such as hospitals.
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Work Injury Compensation Act
The Work Injury Compensation Act will replace the Workmen’s Compensation Act with effect from 1 April 2008. Key features of the Act include an expanded coverage to include more employees, updating the compensation levels, and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the compensation process.
Harmonious Industrial Relations & Good Employment Standards
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Enhancing Tripartism
MOM will continue to work closely with our tripartite partners to strengthen the tripartite relationship to ensure continued industrial harmony and effectively tackle common challenges.
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Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP)
The newly formed TAFEP Centre is a tripartite effort against discrimination in the workplace. It will serve to reach out to employers and employees in spreading the important message of fair employment practices. The Centre will also enhance access for the public to provide feedback on discriminatory employment practices.
Well-Managed Foreign Workforce
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Outreach and Enforcement Efforts for Foreign Workers
MOM will further our outreach efforts to educate foreign workers about their employment rights. MOM will also continue to step up enforcement efforts in targeted sectors such as the conservancy and Food & Beverage (F&B) to curb illegal employment.
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