Singapore govt allocates S$600 million over 2 yrs for skills upgrading programme
By S Ramesh,
SINGAPORE: The government has set aside S$600 million dollars for the Skills Programme for Upgrading & Resilience (SPUR).
The amount will be spent ramping up the continuing education training centres to increase training places and for absentee payroll for two years.
These details were announced at a joint Ministerial News conference on business financing and manpower upgrading to tackle the current economic downturn.
The Manpower Ministry emphasised that both employers and employees stand to benefit from SPUR.
Employers can enjoy higher course fee support for Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) or courses which are nationally certifiable courses.
The Manpower Ministry says the course fee subsidy will be increased from the current 80 to 90 per cent, to a flat 90 per cent for rank and file courses.
For the course at the Professional, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) level, the course fee subsidy will be raised from the current 70 per cent to 80 per cent.
Employers will also receive higher absentee payroll under SPUR.
For workers below 40 years of age, the cap will be raised from S$4 to S$6 per hour.
While for those aged 40 and above and with “A” level qualifications and below, the cap will be raised from S$4.50 to S$6.80 per hour.
All these changes to the course fee support and absentee payroll will take effect from Dec 1, 2008.
The Manpower Ministry says SPUR has three key objectives.
The first is to help companies reduce their manpower costs while saving jobs.
Companies can manage their excess manpower through a variety of ways, such as alternative work arrangements like shorter workweeks, temporary layoffs or sending workers for training and claiming absentee payroll.
Secondly, SPUR will help local workers, including those retrenched with training.
Workers can use this opportunity to upgrade their skills or learn new skills that will help them convert to new jobs
And thirdly, SPUR will help both employers and workers build capabilities for the economic recovery.
It will strengthen capabilities in the labour market and ensure that businesses and the workforce are prepared to seize the opportunities when the economy recovers.
- CNA/yt
Source : Channel NewsAsia - 21 Nov 2008
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