22/03/2024

More Employers and Mid-Career Workers Taking Up SSG-Supported Training

SSG will continue to increase training opportunities in growth areas, and those with employability outcomes

In 2023, about 520,000 individuals and 23,000 employers participated in training programmes supported by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG).

More mid-career workers taking up SSG-supported training

Among the 520,000 individuals, around 200,000 were mid-career workers who tapped on the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Enhanced Subsidies (MCES) to cover an additional 20 per cent of their course fees. The 200,000 was an increase of 28 per cent from 2022.

SSG expects the annual participation of individuals to remain in the region of around 500,000, or about a fifth of the workforce, as we continue to make training accessible for Singaporeans, while curating the inventory of courses for quality and industry relevance. In 2022, 560,000 individuals participated in SSG-supported programmes. Greater training participation is also expected from more mid-career workers with the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme, which was announced at this year’s Budget to provide greater support to mid-career workers to pursue a substantial skills reboot.

SkillsFuture Credit: Around 192,000 Singaporeans used their SkillsFuture Credit (SFC) for a variety of courses. Majority (95 per cent) used their SFC for SSG-supported courses or courses specific to industry sectors (e.g. banking), while the remainder used their SFC for more general courses curated by the People’s Association or the National Silver Academy. 

More employers sponsoring their workers for SSG-supported training

In 2023, approximately 23,000 enterprises sponsored about 228,000 workers for SSG-supported training, a notable increase compared to 20,000 enterprises and 168,000 workers for 2022. Findings from employer perception surveys by both SSG¹ and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF)² also suggest that a higher proportion of enterprises are able to find training courses that are relevant for their business.

Of the 23,000 enterprises, 97 per cent were Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) which generally require more support to invest in their own workforce.

More than 1,200 enterprises have benefitted from the skills advisory support and curated training solutions provided or recommended by our 33 SkillsFuture Queen Bee companies. These 33 Queen Bee companies include three newly appointed companies in 2023 – Korn Ferry, ST Logistics and Raffles Hotel Singapore.

SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit: More than 5,000 new enterprises tapped into their SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit for SSG-supported training in 2023, to defray out-of-pocket course fees. This brings the total number of enterprises that have benefitted from the scheme to more than 30,000 since its launch in 2020.

SSG will do even more to assist enterprises who are committed to helping their workforce upskill. We will raise SMEs’ capabilities to track their workforce’s skills gaps and implement workplace learning, through measures announced during the Ministry of Education's (MOE) Committee of Supply Debate 2024, which include making the Skills Profiler available to 1,000 more enterprises and expanding the Workplace Skills Recognition programme to companies across all sectors³. We will continue to support and rely on our key partners, such as Skills Development Partners and our SkillsFuture Queen Bee companies, to engage enterprises and aggregate their skills needs.

More courses with high industry and career relevance

SSG is strengthening the provision of programmes that seek to deliver strong manpower outcomes. These include courses in highly relevant skillsets, or with industry-recognised certifications, or that provide effective career facilitation to learners.    

In 2023, SSG ramped up the number of SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme (SCTP) courses to 180, from 82 in 2022. About 3,700 individuals participated in courses under the SCTP in 2023, an increase from the more than 1,000 individuals enrolled in 2022. To date, 54 per cent of the trainees have successfully found new jobs in various sectors through SCTP since it was launched. Given the tight labour market, where employers may tend to hire individuals first before training them, participation in such courses may fall, compared to participation in similar programmes during the COVID-19 period. Nevertheless, SSG will ensure that there is ready capacity should more workers across different sectors require career transition training, and continue to expand the SCTP to support mid-career individuals who aim to transit into high-growth sectors.

SkillsFuture Series courses went up from more than 2,800 in 2022 to close to 5,000 in 2023. These are short-form, just-in-time training to expose a broad segment of our workforce to emerging skills of the Digital, Green and Care economies. These emerging skills are identified by SSG through data analysis and wide industry consultation; the insights from this process are shared with the public via the annual Skills Demand for Future Economy Report, and ad-hoc Jobs Skills Insights reports.

Strong learner validation of training outcomes

Based on SSG’s Training Quality and Outcomes Measurement (TRAQOM) survey, 98 per cent of learners indicated that they were able to perform better at work after undergoing SSG-supported training. 93 per cent said that the course played a pivotal role in advancing their careers, while over 95 per cent of the surveyed trainees confirmed that the learning and insights gained from the courses were transferrable to their work.

SSG attaches great importance to the feedback of our learners. We are in the process of enhancing TRAQOM, to more sharply capture learner validation on course quality and relevance, across our inventory of courses.

Mr Tan Kok Yam, Chief Executive of SSG said, “It is encouraging that more employers are sponsoring more workers for SSG-supported courses. It shows an increasingly collective commitment to lifelong learning, across the ecosystem of employers, workers and training providers. With the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme coming into effect, we need to continue to work together to give Singaporeans the training, that is of high quality, of high relevance, and of high impact to their career and their ability to contribute as an employee.”