Some 10,000 port industry employees will stand to benefit from training and skills upgrading under the first Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) collaboration among industry players.
This was made possible by an agreement signed on Friday by the Workforce Development Agency (WDA), PSA Corporation and Jurong Port.
The WDA said the framework will provide nationally-recognised and structured training and certification for port employees.
It will start with mobile equipment operators and lashing specialists whose job includes securing containers on vessels using lashing equipment.
Previously, industry employees took stand-alone courses accredited by parties such as the Ministry of Manpower and Institute of Technical Education.
Wong Hong Kuan, the Chief Executive of WDA said: "If they upgrade themselves and take on greater job responsibilities as their skill sets allow them to, and with the WSQ Framework, they can look at much better pay prospects and growth prospects as well."
The WDA said the industry has good job prospects and expects to create another 5,000 jobs in the next three years.
The agency has already committed some S$8 million to train about 10,000 workers over the next three years.
Labour chief Lim Swee Say commented:"Education background is just the starting point in our lives but it should not be the factor to determine our ending point in our lives.
Because along the way, we'll pick up new skills, new competencies, and develop a new attitude. So the WSQ system is skill-based, competency based."
- Channel News Asia
No comments:
Post a Comment