Singapore – On July 1, PAP’s East Coast team held its first e-rally for the election. Currently, the team is led by DPM Heng Swee Keat and the remaining members are: Maliki Osman, Cheryl Chan, Jessica Tan and Tan Kiat How.
The team answered several questions from netizens and one of it involved jobs. The individual who asked the question raised concerns over the creation of “quality jobs” by the government during this time. She stated that she found the jobs on the job portal created by the government as not being “quality” ones, and asked the candidates what more can be done to ensure better jobs are created for Singaporeans.
Ms Tan shared her response to the question. She agreed with the individual who asked the question, who “rightly pointed out the importance of having and connecting to the jobs”. With regard to the job portal, Ms Tan pointed out that there are currently 28,000 jobs on the Workforce Singapore site. Of these 28,000 jobs, she said that “some of them are very good quality jobs. They range from different industries as well”.
However, job creation is an area that is still “being worked on” because of the ongoing pandemic. She emphasized that there will be 100,000 jobs that the government is working on creating, alongside approximately 40,000 jobs from private companies. Traineeships are also a platform for Singaporeans to pick up skills and experience in a new job and industry, although it may not be a full-time job.
For Singaporeans in the East Coast area, she also shared a specific initiative that the team had in mind to aid employment, titled GEM@East Coast. This programme is aimed at connecting people to jobs.
Mr Osman elaborated further on this programme, which stands for Getting Employed Matters. Workforce Singapore has set up satellite centres around Singapore to make It more accessible for Singaporeans looking for jobs, and currently it is at Bedok for East Coast GRC. However, Mr Osman explained that having it there may be inaccessible for those living in other areas like Simei and Siglap. Hence, GEM@East Coast was developed to bridge this gap. This was done in collaboration with a Voluntary Welfare Organisation, Tao One Limited. Mr Osman described this organisation as having a “good network of employers”, who created a portal that currently has approximately 200 jobs available and will be expanding the numbers.
To put it simply, he stated that anyone in East Coast GRC in need of a job can do two things. Firstly, they can head to any community centre which would help them connect them with Tao One Limited. Secondly, if the jobs found by Tao One Limited are not suitable for the individual for one reason or another, they can be referred to Workforce Singapore’s satellite office at Bedok.
To find out more about PAP’s manifesto for East Coast GRC, you can find it here. /TISG