The Minister of Manpower has pledged substantial wage support to companies employing older workers
Minister of Manpower Lim Swee Say was present at the recent launch of the professional conversion programme where he reiterated the government’s support of older workers looking to upskill.
At a parliament hearing a few weeks ago, Lim told those present that older PMETs are “already offered a higher level of career and unemployment support”.
But under the PCP, which was also launched last Friday for the services sector, companies that hire PMETs aged 40 and above will receive 90% wage support—a 20% increase from those of their younger counterparts.
They also promised to subsidise training “up to a cap of $4,000 during the training, on top of existing training subsidies.”
At the official launch of the skills framework, Lim also spoke at length about growing concerns on unemployment.
He said that the solution to unemployment was not simply to create more jobs.
“If we are not careful, unemployment might go up not because we don't have enough jobs but because there is a mismatch between jobs and skills," he said to The Straits Times.
"We want to minimise this mismatch.”
"This means making every job a better job and every career a better career and, hopefully, every worker will enjoy better pay,” he added, pointing to the advantages of having the skills framework and the professional conversion programme.
