1 MSF has been creating jobs and skills opportunities for Singaporeans since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. By end-2021, there will be around 4,500 opportunities that will build capability across the social service and early childhood sectors, and for persons with disabilities. This supports the National Jobs Council’s efforts to ensure opportunities for Singaporeans to develop relevant skills for future careers and secure new jobs.
Opportunities in the Social Service Sector
2 Together with the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), MSF is developing 1,200 job and skills opportunities in the social service sector (this is in addition to the opportunities in MSF agencies mentioned at paras 11 to 13). These span roles in corporate and professional functions, for both fresh graduates and mid-careerists.
3 These jobs allow Social Service Agencies (SSA) to obtain manpower that can help them transform and adapt their services in the new normal. We enhanced the Volunteer Manager Funding Scheme (eVMFS) and introduced the Transformation Support Scheme (TSS), which respectively co-fund SSAs to hire Volunteer Managers to strengthen their volunteer management capacity, as well as skilled manpower in areas such as digitalisation, finance, HR and fund-raising to enhance organisational transformation and excellence.
4 NCSS has also created opportunities under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package. We supported SSAs in tapping the SGUnited Traineeships (SGUT) and SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways (SGUP) programmes, to create traineeships for roles such as Corporate Service Executives, Social Service Assistants and Programme Executives. NCSS partnered Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) to curate three sector-specific programmes under SGUnited Skills (SGUS), which help jobseekers transit into corporate, Volunteer Management and Social Service Assistant roles in the sector. At the same time, NCSS also worked with Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) and Training Centres like the Singapore Management University, NP and Lithan Academy on digital training courses – across the strategic, managerial, operational and tactical levels – to help SSAs build digital capabilities and thrive amidst digital transformation.
5 Besides these key schemes, additional funding support was extended to more than 70 MSF-funded residential facilities for the implementation of safe management measures (SMMs). This was to help SSAs to hire additional client-facing staff directly involved in SMMs according to their needs, including nurses and care workers.
6 In all, we hope that the additional manpower support will help SSAs move towards our longer-term vision of “SSA 3.0” – a sector driven by committed social service professionals, augmented by volunteers, and comprising organisations that are enabled by technology.
Opportunities in the Early Childhood Sector
7 There continues to be a strong demand for early childhood (EC)-related professionals alongside significant Government investment in the EC sector to provide a good start for every child. To support the SGUnited Jobs and Skills efforts, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has been working with preschools and SSAs since July 2020 to create close to 1,000 additional job opportunities for Singaporeans to join the EC sector. These include
a. Short-term jobs for Singaporeans and Singapore Permanent Residents to join preschools as Safe Management Assistants to assist with the implementation of SMM in preschools while exploring a potential switch in career to the Early Childhood sector;
b. Longer-term jobs for mid-career jobseekers to be trained as certified early childhood educators via the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) or Place-and-Train (PnT) Programme for Early Childhood Care and Education; and
c. KidSTART-related positions such as home visitors and Child Enabling Executives to support the expansion of the KidSTART programme, which provides upstream, holistic support to children aged 0-6 from low-income families.
Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities
8 MSF announced on 29 January 2021 the creation of new job and training programmes for persons with disabilities, as part of the workstream under the National Jobs Council. The three new types of programmes are administered by SG Enable, and will complement existing efforts under the Open Door Programme (ODP) to provide employment and training opportunities for persons with disabilities. In total, MSF and SG Enable aim to create 1,200 employment, traineeships and skills upgrading opportunities for persons with disabilities through its new and existing programmes. The three new programmes, which will support 150 opportunities for a start, are
a. Place-and-Train (PnT) programmes, where persons with disabilities will be placed with employers and trained for new full-time or contract roles. Employers on the PnT will receive 90% of salary support1 from the Government for the placements of these persons with disabilities.
b. Attach-and-Train (AnT) programmes, where persons with disabilities will receive on-the-job and structured training by host companies, in temporary attachments and/or traineeships. Persons with disabilities on AnT will receive an allowance benchmarked at 80% of the salary for similar roles. The government will support 70% and the host company the remaining 10% of the allowance.
c. Skills Development Programmes (SDP), where persons with disabilities can attend customised training courses to upskill themselves. Persons with disabilities who attend SDPs will be given a monthly allowance of up to $640 for the duration of the training.
9 Persons with disabilities who participate in any of these programmes will benefit from a 90% course fee subsidy for courses that they attend. The programmes will provide between six and 12 months of support, depending on the length of individual programmes.
10 Through these efforts, MSF and SG Enable seek to enhance access to training, employment and other related opportunities for persons with disabilities amid the continued impact of COVID-19 on Singaporeans, as well as to lower the costs for employers, host companies and training providers in offering these new programmes to persons with disabilities.
Opportunities within MSF, NCSS and ECDA
11 As part of the Public Service Division’s push to create 15,000 jobs in the public sector in 2020, MSF has also been bringing forward hiring and ramping up capabilities for immediate and longer-term needs, and we are working towards 1,100 opportunities within MSF, NCSS and ECDA.
12 We scaled up short-term job opportunities under the SGUnited Jobs Initiative, and facilitated business-to-business secondments from the aviation and hotel sector, such as from the Singapore Airlines Group and FlyScoot. We also provided social service traineeship opportunities within MSF and NCSS, to equip recent graduates and mid-career jobseekers with relevant skills and boost their employability when hiring demand picks up. The added manpower supports functions such as the processing of the COVID-19 assistance schemes, child protection and youth guidance, implementation of safe management measures, service delivery and coordination (through initiatives such as the SG Cares Rental Outreach), as well as corporate support and stakeholder engagement.
13 Looking ahead, we are also increasing long-term job opportunities to enhance capabilities for new and expanded functions that will help us build an inclusive and resilient society in the longer run. This includes volunteer management and outreach capabilities for the nation-wide scale up of Community Link (ComLink) to strengthen support for families with children living in rental housing.
14 Overall, the estimated 4,500 opportunities will enable Singaporeans to kickstart meaningful careers that contribute towards a resilient and caring society that can overcome challenges together. The job vacancies and opportunities will be made available progressively from now till the end of 2021, on MyCareersFuture, Social Service Tribe, Shape Our Tomorrow and Careers@Gov. Partners who are interested to provide opportunities to persons with disabilities, and persons with disabilities who are interested in the various opportunities, are invited to find out more at the SG Enable website and register their interest with SG Enable.
1 Wage support across the PnT, Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) and Enabling Employment Credit (EEC) will be capped at 95%
Annex Translated Terms [120 kb]