SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme to benefit around 60,000 Singapore residents per year
Eligible involuntarily unemployed persons will receive up to $6,000 over six months
By Tay Hong Yi, The Straits Times, 28 Aug 2024
About 60,000 jobless Singapore residents will stand to benefit each year from a new job seeker support scheme to be rolled out next April.
To be eligible for the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support, they must have earned $5,000 or less a month on average for the duration of their previous employment within the last 12 months. They also cannot live in a property with an annual value of more than $25,000.
The annual value of property is the estimated gross annual rent if it were to be rented out, according to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.
They will receive up to $6,000 over six months, starting with $1,500 in the first month, and subsequently tapering down, if they meet the requirements.
However, the monthly payouts are capped at an individual’s previous-drawn monthly salary, and they stop once the jobless person finds work.
Those who have received payouts will not be able to make another application within three years of their last scheme payout, but there is otherwise no limit on how many times they can be covered by this scheme.
They must also have worked for at least six out of the 12 months preceding their application for the scheme, which will be implemented by Workforce Singapore (WSG).
Manpower Minister Tan See Leng unveiled the scheme’s eligibility criteria during a visit to the Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability in Jurong East on Aug 27 to witness a career coaching class.
This follows Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s announcement on the maximum duration and payout of the scheme during his maiden National Day Rally speech on Aug 18.
More than 60 per cent of those who are involuntarily unemployed, which broadly refers to those who did not initiate their termination from previous employment, are set to qualify. They include those who are retrenched or dismissed, or whose companies have gone bust.
The scheme will be open to Singaporeans aged 21 and above at launch, before being extended to permanent residents aged 21 and above from the first quarter of 2026.
The Government will also provide a one-off concession to Singaporean job seekers who lost their jobs on or after April 1, 2024, and remain so even when the scheme kicks off in April 2025, despite them having not worked for at least six of the 12 months before their application.
Fewer than 2,000 people are expected to fall under the concession, a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) spokeswoman told reporters at a media briefing on Aug 27.
She also said the scheme, which will be reviewed regularly, is expected to cost about $200 million a year.
The $5,000 wage threshold, at slightly above the median gross monthly income of $4,550, was set to ensure that lower- and middle-income workers would be covered, she added.
Asked if the cap on monthly payouts to an individual’s previous-drawn monthly salary would mean job seekers previously earning less than the payouts have less support despite being more in need, she said the cap is meant to ensure that workers will not try to get involuntarily unemployed to earn more than their pay.
“It’s very important to come back to the principle that we want people to bounce back into employment... So, in order to do that, what’s most important is that the person holds on to the job, and the payout quantums do need to be designed in such a way as to incentivise this,” she added.
MOM and WSG said in a joint statement issued on Aug 27 that the scheme comes with support for an individual’s job search beyond the payouts, and complements other training and social support schemes.
“The payout quantum is not sized to meet the needs of households facing financial distress as a result of a household member becoming involuntarily unemployed, as (SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support) is not a social assistance scheme,” they said.
This means job seekers can still benefit from social support schemes such as ComCare Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance (SMTA).
ComCare SMTA provides temporary financial aid and other forms of help to tide recipients over tough times as they are looking for a job or are ill, among other reasons.
MOM and WSG said those who undertake reskilling or upskilling can still receive additional training allowances that they qualify for separately, such as the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Training Allowance.
Those receiving payouts will also need to demonstrate that they are actively seeking a job, such as through submitting job applications, attending career coaching, or participating in eligible training courses.
Asked to elaborate on how someone can show he is doing so, a WSG spokesman said: “I think these are details that we are still working on, but very broadly speaking, we do expect applicants to submit some form of documentation, and we will check this documentation.”
He added that more details will be shared closer to the launch date.
In response to a question from The Straits Times on whether eligible job seekers would be invited to apply for the scheme, the WSG spokesman said the agency already reaches out to employers who cut jobs to tell them about the support that affected workers can tap, which would include the new scheme moving forward.
In his speech, Dr Tan said the scheme marks a paradigm shift for the Government, in providing interim support to others who may face financial pressures when involuntarily unemployed, beyond the most vulnerable in society.
He also said that it studied proposals and feedback from the labour movement, employers and the public in designing the scheme.
The scheme aims to avoid making staying unemployed more attractive than holding down a job, as well as avoid saddling employers with more cost, he said.
“We do not want employers to offset the costs of an insurance scheme by cutting wages or by stopping the practice of retrenchment benefits.”
Dr Tan also noted that even as the starting point is to support displaced job seekers to rebound into jobs that fit their skills and experience instead of rushing the job search, the Government does not want them to delay their return to the workforce, which tends to diminish their employability.
He also said that when the scheme is launched, WSG will be the first port of call for job seekers on how they can meaningfully participate in and benefit from the scheme. “As long as workers continue to play your part to build your career health, by pursuing jobs and training opportunities in a focused and intentional manner, the Government will walk each step with you.”
National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) secretary-general Ng Chee Meng, who joined Dr Tan on his visit, applauded the launch of the scheme as a good first step in a labour market that is being shaken up by new technologies such as artificial intelligence.
On the labour movement’s push for the scheme, Mr Ng said: “It has taken us 10 years to advocate for fellow workers like you to move government policy.”
The labour chief also thanked the Government for taking in NTUC’s views and moving forward on the support, in a shift he dubbed “momentous”.
SkillsFuture credits can be used for more than 30,000 new online courses from 28 Aug 2024
By Gabrielle Chan, The Straits Times, 28 Aug 2024
Starting from Aug 28, Singaporeans can access more than 30,000 new courses on two online learning platforms using their SkillsFuture credits.
Learners can offset a 12-month subscription fee on Coursera and Udemy Business to get access to courses on topics such as data science, business management and artificial intelligence (AI).
The Coursera subscription gives access to more than 7,700 courses, 2,500 guided projects – tutorials for new skills – and 130 professional certificates, while Udemy’s subscription will give access to 27,000 online courses.
Singaporeans aged 25 and above can offset the subscription fees for the two platforms by using the SkillsFuture opening credit of $500 and the one-off top-up of $500 given in 2020.
The subscriptions can be claimed via the MySkillsFuture portal.
Singaporean learners can start enrolling for courses offered by Coursera from Aug 28 to Sept 25, as enrolment opens up every quarter.
Registration and purchase options of the Coursera subscription are available at any time through third-party site ReallyLesson.com, which is Coursera’s partner for SkillsFuture credits claims.
Registrations for Udemy accounts are open until Sept 15, and will open every quarter. Enrolment in Udemy courses is available year-round once users have activated their accounts.
Annual subscription fees for Coursera is $499 and for Udemy Business, $499.22 per user (including 9 per cent GST).
Coursera has more than a million Singapore-based learners, said its managing director for Asia-Pacific Raghav Gupta, with the company seeing record enrolment in generative AI (GenAI) courses in 2024.
“(The ability to use SkillsFuture credits) will hopefully complement that adoption we have seen in Singapore,” he added.
Singapore-based users rank 12th in the world and second in the Asia-Pacific in skills proficiency, Mr Gupta said, as he shared findings from Coursera’s annual global skills report.
These rankings represent how learners perform across countries in the fields of business, technology and data science.
Countries are ranked by skills proficiency, as well as other indicators such as application of skills to innovation, labour force participation, human capital index and gross domestic product per capita.
Learners in Singapore are ranked 11th worldwide in their proficiency in business and technology skills, and 15th in data science skills. The top five skills in Singapore are epidemiology, fintech, resilience, blockchain and investment management.
The Coursera global skills annual report, which covers more than 148 million learners and 7,000 institutional partners, captures trends in the learning landscape such as emerging skills.
Mr Gupta noted an 815 per cent year-on-year increase in 2024 in enrolment in GenAI courses, with Singapore learners ranking in the top 10 globally for enrolment in these courses, leading South-east Asia.
Millennials accounted for 65 per cent of the enrolment, followed by Generation X at 24 per cent and Generation Z at 8 per cent.
This ties in with Singapore’s focus on developing its AI capabilities as part of the Government’s National AI Strategy 2.0, said Mr Gupta.
Alongside AI, Singaporean learners focused on acquiring financial skills in 2024, with four of the top 10 skills acquired through the courses offered by Coursera being related to finance.
Skills in digital and green economies are a key growth area for Singaporean learners, said Mr Gupta.
There was a 57 per cent year-on-year growth in 2024 in enrolment for professional certificates, or industry micro-credentials, where the top three certifications focused on in-demand digital skills such as data analytics and cyber security.
“At the Asia-Pacific level, we have seen learners come back to us and say that they have received a 20 per cent increase in their salary because of the skills and credentials gained by taking these professional certificates,” said Mr Gupta.
He added that 34 per cent of learners in Asia-Pacific also said they were able to land a job interview or feel confident about a specific interview they were going to.
Mr Gupta said that with learners being able to use credits to access courses, he hopes that learning becomes more available and accessible.
“Let’s make learning available in a very visible and easy manner, where the funding you need to use the subscriptions is no longer the blocker,” he said, adding that Coursera is expecting to see an increase in enrolment.
“We are expecting that this will significantly help learning within Singapore,” he said.
Udemy announced on Aug 6 that it was collaborating with Republic Polytechnic to offer a subscription that grants access to courses on business, technical and professional skills.
Udemy president and chief executive Greg Brown said: “This collaboration aligns with our mission to transform lives through learning and provide an environment where everyone, everywhere has access to the skills they need to unlock their potential and create opportunities for themselves and others.”
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SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme to benefit around 60,000 Singapore residents per year -27 August 2024
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