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Resilience Budget: 10,000 jobs to be created over the next year, with public sector taking the lead

SINGAPORE — As the Covid-19 crisis disrupts livelihoods and raises job uncertainties, the Government has pledged to create about 10,000 jobs over the next year.

Public-sector agencies will speed up hiring plans to fill a range of jobs, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said.

Public-sector agencies will speed up hiring plans to fill a range of jobs, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said.

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SINGAPORE — As the Covid-19 crisis disrupts livelihoods and raises job uncertainties, the Government has pledged to create about 10,000 jobs over the next year.

The SGUnited Jobs initiative, announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in Parliament on Thursday (March 26), will see the public sector take the lead.

Agencies will speed up hiring plans to fill a range of jobs, Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister, said.

The public sector will hire workers for long-term roles in the public service and partner institutions in areas such as social services, early childhood education, and information and communications technology. This is so that the public sector can improve its provision of essential services, Mr Heng added.

There will also be short-term temporary roles to handle operations related to the Covid-19 pandemic, including health declaration assistants, temporary management support officers and transport ambassadors to help commuters keep a safe distance from one another and sanitise trains, for instance.

For the private sector, the authorities are working to identify job opportunities there with the Singapore Business Federation as well as trade associations and chambers.

These jobs, Mr Heng said, may come from businesses hiring for their eventual recovery or those with short-term labour needs because of disruptions to the manpower supply.

Companies such as rail operator SMRT and American technology firm Micron Technology, which has major operations in Singapore, are taking part in the scheme, he said.

Government agency Workforce Singapore (WSG) will on Friday launch an SGUnited Jobs virtual career fair with more than 2,200 vacancies, with the focus on short-term temporary jobs that are available immediately, Mr Heng said.

The Manpower Ministry and WSG said that the fair, the first in a series of such events, will run until April 12. Jobseekers may visit sgunitedjobs.gov.sg, which is expected to be online on Friday.

HELPING FIRST-TIME JOBSEEKERS

First-time jobseekers, including those who have just graduated from the Institute of Technical Education, polytechnics and universities this year, may also be concerned about the job market, Mr Heng said.

These young jobseekers may tap a traineeship programme that will give them work experience.

Under the SGUnited Traineeships programme, WSG will share manpower costs with businesses that offer traineeships for first-time Singapore jobseekers this year.

For a start, the programme will support up to 8,000 such places in both large and small firms. These include science and technology positions in research-and-development laboratories, “deep-tech” startups, accelerators and incubators. Deep-tech startups are those relying on advanced scientific research.

Trainees will get an allowance, which will be funded by the Government and participating companies.

The Ministry of Manpower will reveal more details soon, Mr Heng said.

For more on the Resilience Budget, visit tdy.sg/resiliencebudget

Related topics

Jobs public sector employment Covid-19 coronavirus Budget 2020

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