May 30, 2009

CDCs help more find jobs

WITH the economy in a tailspin, 27,200 people sought help from community development councils (CDCs) to find jobs during the first four months of this year, an increase of more than two times from about 13,200 during the same period last year.
According to latest released figures from the Workforce Development Agency (WDA), successful job placements too are on the rise.

Thanks to the collective efforts of the five CDCs here and the Employment and Employability Institute or e2i, NTUC's job training and placement arm, 10,500 job seekers were placed between January and the end of April. For the whole of last year, the CDCs managed to place 13,000 job seekers.

Islandwide, about six in 10 of the registered job seekers at CDCs are above the age of 40, and seven in 10 have secondary qualifications and below.

To cope with the surge in those seeking jobs, the five CDCs have beefed up both the range and frequency of their career outreach programmes.

Since January, South East CDC has held 'mobile recruitment drives' by setting up booths at MRT stations to target those in need of a job but not sure where to get help.

The North East and Central Singapore CDCs have begun outreach efforts to tap potential employers. CDC officers have been combing neighbourhood malls and offices to source for jobs.

So far, the North East CDC has garnered more than 330 vacancies, mostly in food and beverage and retail.

- The Straits Times

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