Singapore— The country’s Manpower Minister, Josephine Teo, said on July 22, Monday, that in spite of present economic sluggishness, there are good jobs available even for PMETs (professionals, managers, executives, and technicians).
At the announcement of a new initiative to re-skill white-collar air transport workers at the Sats Inflight Catering Centre 2, Ms Teo said that there are 60,000 job openings available, with around half of these vacancies open for PMET positions.
She said, “If you look at our economy today, even though there are some sectors with weaknesses, the overall vacancies rate is quite healthy. Quite a lot of these jobs are good quality jobs. How to equip our people to capture those job opportunities – that must be our focus.”
A number of air transport workers have been affected by changes in the industry, hence the need for re-skilling these workers, so that they can continue with gainful employment in other parts of the industry.
The Manpower Minister also promised that aid and assistance would be extended to those in manufacturing and trade-related sectors since they would be among those most affected by the current economic situation.
According to Ms Teo, “We must take these developments seriously and monitor them. There will be some sectors… where there’s some weakening and we will try and see how best to support the companies in these sectors.”
She added that the country would be concentrating on building a diversified economy by extending support to businesses in different sectors.
The Manpower Minister also posed a challenge to the companies to do their part as well.
“You no longer just pick and choose and say that we only want to grow certain sectors; you actually want a more diversified landscape.
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.”
The new initiatives announced on July 22 are the product of Workforce Singapore (WSG), Republic Polytechnic, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the National Trades Union Congress all working together, according to a report from the Straits Times (ST).
The Manpower Minister said that the air transport sector is enjoying positive momentum and growth.
“What we want to do is not to let go of the good growth momentum,” Ms Teo said.
Hence the need for the new initiative, the Redeployment Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) for Air Transport Professionals, which Ms Teo says will be beneficial to businesses, as well as for the employees themselves.
“It is a win for the company because it means that their manpower needs can be met in a more timely manner.
It is also a win for the individual because it means that they get to keep a job.They acquire new skills and in doing so, they also get to extend their career runways. They have more career mobility.”
The Ministry of Manpower statutory board Workforce Singapore (WSG) also announced expanded salary support for retraining programmes in the aviation industry yesterday, to keep the aviation industry in the country competitive.
Ms Teo said, “If you look at the medium-term and longer-term developments, particularly related to our plans to develop Terminal Five and the expansion of the Changi air hub, there are very good growth opportunities.
In the process of helping to take advantage of this growth, companies are also minded to transform themselves. In other words, they want to grow in terms of their topline. But in terms of their manpower, they have to find better ways of managing it.” -/TISG
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