LABOUR chief Lim Swee Say has this advice for the 30,000 job seekers in Singapore: There are still jobs out there.
Speaking at a May Day Rally on Friday, Mr Lim said there are some 19,000 jobs still available, out of which 8,000 pay above $2,000 a month, in the e2i job gallery.
Opened in 2007, the e2i is part of a national masterplan to equip workers with skills to stay employable amid changing economic conditions. It was set up by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) in partnership with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), and others.
Mr Lim, who is the NTUC secretary-general, said while there are close to 10,000 job seekers registered with the institute, it has not been able to match them yet.
The reason: Many are either not equipped with the right skills yet, while others have high expectations.
'Our challenge then is to narrow the skills gap, the expectation gap and the mindset gap,' said Mr Lim.
But he also noted that there are others who have shown the willingness to learn and adapt, and many jobless have been re-employed again. About 70 per cent of those retrenched last year have found jobs again.
'Some are job ready and they just need encouragement,' he said.
Latest figures figures showed that overall unemployment here rose from 2.5 per cent last December to 3.2 per cent last month, with 95,600 people out of work.
'Even though retrenchment has gone up in the first quarter of 2009, it could have been worse,' if not for efforts by the government and tripartite collaborations, Mr Lim told the gathering.
'Our tripartite efforts in cutting costs to save jobs have made a real difference in containing the first wave of retrenchment. There was no runaway, massive retrenchment,' he added.
But the second wave will come, he said, striking a cautious note. 'The road is still long and winding. So let's be prepared and continue to cut costs and save jobs.'
- The Straits Times
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