Speech by Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng on the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme on 27 August 2024

Sec-Gen Brother Chee Meng

Brothers and Sisters from NTUC

Ladies and gentlemen

1. Good Afternoon

a. It is my pleasure to join you at today's Coaching Series.

b. My deepest thanks to NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) for inviting me.

c. I am very glad to see NTUC's commitment to career coaching - this is a key element in developing the career health of all of our fellow Singaporeans, which is one of the Ministry of Manpower's key priorities.

2. We want our workers to develop greater career resilience, and be ready to seize new economic opportunities.

3. When we look ahead, the pace of change will only accelerate.We are likely to see a higher incidence of job displacements. Because these are due to factors beyond any of our control, we should all come together to build our own career health.

4. As announced by the Prime Minister during the National Day Rally, we will be introducing a new SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme.

5. This scheme marks a paradigm shift for the Government:

a. Today, we have various social assistance schemes like ComCare to support vulnerable households in financial difficulties.

b. But we know that beyond the most vulnerable segments of our society, there are others who face financial pressures, especially when they are involuntarily unemployed.

c. For the first time, we will be giving temporary financial support to involuntarily unemployed persons. But of course, the condition that comes with it is that they must undertake activities that will make it more likely for them to land a job. This is our Government's commitment to all Singaporeans - that we will always help and provide resources for those who step up and want to do more for themselves.

6. We have been studying this for quite some time. We have also considered multiple sources of feedback from our tripartite partners, as well as the public.

a. ASG Brother Patrick Tay - he was the first to call for unemployment support to tide workers through lay-offs in Parliament in 2014, which was one decade ago!

b. In 2021, the NTUC-SNEF PME Taskforce echoed this call, proposing for income support for the involuntarily unemployed.

c. Some of you may recall the Citizens' Panel on Employment Resilience, which was also held here at this e2i career centre in February last year. During the discussion, both Brother Chee Meng and myself heard similar calls for greater assurances for the unemployed, among some of the other issues facing workers such as career health.

7. The Government has studied these proposals and feedback carefully, meticulously, when it came to designing the scheme.

a. Some countries have unemployment insurance. The point I want to drive across is that in our study of many of these countries, the experience has not been consistently positive. We have seen how in some of these countries, unemployment insurance can lull people and lead individuals to stay unemployed for even longer periods.

b. We have also heard from many of our business owners about rising business costs. We do not want employers to offset the costs of an insurance scheme by cutting wages or by stopping the practice of retrenchment benefit.

8. This is why we took it upon ourselves to create, to search for a better alternative, and to minimise the negative outcomes that we have seen elsewhere.

a. Our starting point is to support displaced jobseekers to rebound into jobs that can fit their skillsets and experiences, instead of just rushing head on into the next available job.

b. But at the same time, we do not want displaced jobseekers to delay unnecessarily their return into the workforce, because this would diminish their employability. This scheme that we are launching today aims to strike a very careful and delicate balance.

9. I will provide more details on the scheme.

10. First, on who will qualify. We will support those who are more likely to face financial pressures, and who may then rush into jobs that do not fit them well.

a. As such, the scheme will target lower- and middle-income workers previously earning up to $5,000 per month.

b. Applicants must also have been employed for at least six months in the 12 months prior to scheme application. This will allow us to target the support to those facing more recent unemployment shocks.

c. We expect around 60,000 individuals to be eligible for the scheme per year. This will support more than 60% of involuntarily unemployed persons. It's quite substantive.

11. Second, we want to help jobseekers maintain an ethos of self-reliance - we want to be able to nudge and reward their efforts to get back on their feet.

a. From the Forward Singapore exercise, Singaporeans have shared that personal responsibility should remain a cornerstone in our social compact.

b. I agree, and I am fully on board. The scheme should encourage and support jobseekers to regain employment and not continued unemployment.

c. As such, we hope that through this, jobseekers will see the need to play their part, to take responsibility for their own actions and make an effort through active job search to bounce back into work quickly.

d. Together, we can then get through every setback, with the Government doing our level best to help you. Jobseekers can tap on a wide variety of employment facilitation support offered by Workforce Singapore (WSG) and partners such as NTUC's e2i.

i. For example, jobseekers can participate in career coaching sessions like the one organised today.

ii. When the scheme is launched, WSG will provide guidance to jobseekers on how they can meaningfully participate in and benefit from the scheme. We are mindful that jobseekers may be going through a challenging job search process. WSG will continue to be the port of call for them, ensuring they have access to employment facilitation support and they are able to navigate the scheme with relative ease.

12. Third, the payouts can provide sufficient assurance for jobseekers to tide them over whilst finding good-fitting jobs, and at the same time encouraging them to re-enter the workforce in a timely manner. Participating jobseekers can receive up to $6,000 over six months, provided they demonstrate active job search participation and fulfil the other criteria.

a. The quantum of the payouts - we are going to front load it, so it will be higher at the start to provide greater peace of mind immediately after involuntary unemployment. Jobseekers can receive up to $1,500 in the first month.

b. It will be gradually reduced from the second month onwards, to maintain the incentive for jobseekers to start work earlier if they can find a good-fitting job.

c. The monthly payouts will stop when the jobseeker gets back into a job.

13. I want to emphasise that the total payout of up to $6,000 over a six-month period should not be viewed in isolation. The scheme is not a social assistance scheme, and the quantum is sized to provide added assurance during your job search efforts.

14. The Government has in place various other schemes to provide financial support for those undergoing substantial reskilling or experiencing financial hardships.

a. For example, the SkillsFuture Level-up Programme is there to support those who are undergoing training for extended periods. A displaced mature worker earning $5,000 per month can apply for both the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme and a full-time long-form training programme. If he concurrently undertakes job search and training, he will be eligible for both the jobseeker support payouts and training allowance under the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme.

b. Over a six-month period, he would receive up to $21,000, which comprises about $15,000 of training allowance, plus the additional $6,000 of jobseeker support payouts! So this is quite substantial.

c. Jobseekers from households with financial difficulties may also receive social assistance from ComCare based on their needs.

15. As such, you can see that this scheme builds on the existing support that we provide to workers.

16. WSG will launch the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme in April 2025 for Singapore Citizens, followed by Permanent Residents in Q1 2026.

17. At launch next year, there may be some involuntarily unemployed persons who do not qualify as they have been unemployed for more than six months.

a. These individuals will not meet the qualifying condition of having been employed for at least six months in the 12 months prior to scheme application.

b. When the scheme is launched, we will provide a one-off concession and onboard those who become involuntarily unemployed from 1 April 2024, if they are still unemployed at the point of application.

This will allow workers in this segment the opportunity to still benefit from this scheme.

18. Let me now say a few words in Mandarin:

a. 劳动力发展局将在明年4月推出新的求职援助计划，帮助非自愿失业的求职者减轻财务压力并鼓励他们重新就业。失业前每月收入不超过五千元的求职者将受益于这项计划。

b. 积极求职并符合条件的人士可在参与计划后的六个月期间获得高达六千元的现金援助，其中包括第一个月高达一千五百元的援助。

c. 我很了解，也很体谅，职业生涯(yá)很少会一帆风顺。但是我们希望这项计划能够雪中送炭，为求职者提供短期的财务援助，让他们有多一些时间和空间去寻找适合自己的工作。

d. 除了求职援助计划，求职者也可以申请其它政府援助，减轻财务的压力。积极参与再培训的求职者也可获得劳动力发展局和精深技能发展局的培训津贴。

e. 我希望大家能够齐心协力，一起帮助失业人士重返职场，闯出一番新天地！

19. The Prime Minister had said that a "major reset" is needed as we chart our beloved country, Singapore's way forward. This is a reset in Government policies, and just as importantly, it is also a reset of our fellow Singaporeans' views and our attitudes. The SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme will be an added boost to Singapore's ecosystem of support for unemployed individuals, empowering them to take ownership in navigating what could potentially be a difficult chapter of their lives, for them to have better outcomes.

a. We have set aside over $200 million per year to strengthen jobseekers through this scheme. And this is just the first step. The Government will regularly review the scheme to ensure that we provide the necessary support to the involuntarily unemployed.

b. By providing jobseekers with financial assistance, complemented by training and employment facilitation support, we will strengthen our workers' career health as well as their longer-term prospects.

c. This is what our refreshed social compact is all about. As long as workers continue to play your part to build your career health and your career resilience, by pursuing jobs and training opportunities in a very focused and intentional manner, the Government will walk each step with you.

d. Together, we can overcome the challenges ahead. Together, we can help our workers bounce back better from setbacks.

e. Thank you.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.