Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Govt initiatives can help ensure opportunities for S’poreans: Chuan-Jin

SINGAPORE — Queried by younger Singaporeans about the disparity in job opportunities available to graduates from various universities amid the Government’s push for multiple pathways to success, outgoing Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin yesterday spoke about factors the Government tries to balance as he assured them of exciting opportunities here.

SINGAPORE — Queried by younger Singaporeans about the disparity in job opportunities available to graduates from various universities amid the Government’s push for multiple pathways to success, outgoing Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin yesterday spoke about factors the Government tries to balance as he assured them of exciting opportunities here.

While acknowledging that graduates from autonomous and private universities are differentiated for some jobs, Mr Tan — who will hand over the manpower portfolio to Mr Lim Swee Say in a fortnight — said this is because of the difference in standards among universities.

The authorities are looking to make available some information on employment outcomes, he added, at an 80-minute dialogue with about 170 residents that wrapped up his ministerial community visit to Serangoon division yesterday. He noted that in places such as Taiwan and South Korea, many people have degrees but not all are able to find jobs.

In Singapore, the Government is taking steps to blur the lines between polytechnic and university graduates in the public sector, said Mr Tan. In other jobs, paper qualifications slowly matter less over time.

Also weighing in on the issue was former Cabinet Minister Lim Boon Heng, who was another panellist at the dialogue. Mr Lim, who is special adviser to the chairman of the People’s Association board, said that not every degree is the same. “We don’t like ranking ... but private organisations rank universities and this ranking is available, so employers do look at ranking of universities,” he said.

The rankings serve as a way to sift through a list of applicants without other information about how the applicant would perform in the job, but those who “lose out” at first can succeed later if they work hard and apply their minds to their work — as many of the older generation did, said Mr Lim.

Mr Tan said the SkillsFuture initiative to help Singaporeans master skills throughout their lives will help in the pursuit of different pathways.

Companies in Singapore create opportunities for workers and many find the workforce here hardworking, capable and cosmopolitan. “We want to not only create the opportunities for the jobs, we want to equip ourselves for the jobs,” said Mr Tan.

Other participants in the dialogue spoke about challenges in finding skilled labour. Mr Tan, who is also the Minister for Social and Family Development, said certain decisions, such as the building of two integrated resorts, were taken at a time of uncertainty about economic growth drivers, and the government began tightening manpower policies around 2010.

Foreign manpower numbers are still growing but at a slower pace; having zero growth would hurt Singaporeans and small and medium companies, he said. Foreigners supplement the pool of manpower and skills here, helping local companies to manage costs and keep their competitiveness, he said, noting that Singaporeans face competition from outside the Republic.

Mr Tan also said it is impossible for policymakers to make everyone happy with every policy, and called on Singaporeans to give and take.

The nation displayed the best of what it could be as a people recently when it mourned the death of founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, said Mr Tan, who urged people not to care only about their own backyard.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.