Record number of private employers offering workers structured training

SINGAPORE — The number of employers offering structured training to their workers surged to a new high last year, with eight in 10 employers doing so, according to a biennial survey done by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

The survey findings, released today (Oct 5), showed that 82 per cent of private companies provided structured training to at least one worker last year, up from 71 per cent in 2012. “This may reflect greater government support and emphasis in upgrading the skills of the workforce,” said the MOM.

Employers in the construction (96 per cent), financial and insurance services (90 per cent) and manufacturing (84 per cent) industries remained the most likely to send their staff for training, due to industry-specific requirements on mandatory courses or certification, such as safety courses for workers in construction and manufacturing.

Even as more employers are training their workers, the proportion of workers being sent for training in these companies has remained largely unchanged over the years, and dipped from 57 per cent in 2012 to 56.4 per cent in 2014. Clerical, sales and service workers remained the least likely to be sent for training – with 49.9 per cent of the workers in this category being trained last year. This is down from 51.2 per cent in 2012, and 56.4 per cent 10 years ago. The MOM could not provide figures on how many employees overall are sent for training yearly.

Training expenditure was similar to before, with an average of S$726 spent on each trainee last year. In 2012, the average training expenditure was S$717 per trainee.

Employers cited increased training subsidies and better workload management as the key motivators for training their workers. On the whole, employers also felt that training had a positive impact on their company and staff performance. Eight in 10 respondents believed that work efficiency had gone up (83 per cent) and the quality of services have improved (78 per cent). Nine in 10 employers (92 per cent) felt that the training have boosted the skills level of their workers. But on the flipside, about four in 10 (37 per cent) felt that training positively impacted their workers’ wages, “given that it may take some time for the benefits on wages to take effect”.

The Employer Supported Training survey was conducted between March and May this year with 3,900 private companies, which employed some 1.19 million workers.