Speaking at a job fair held in Crowne Plaza yesterday (Feb 8), Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say openly conceded that the government today can only produce about 25% of the job growth in the past. Blaming the ageing population and “economic restructuring”, the S$1.1 million-a-year Minister said:
“We won’t go back to the days of 100,000 to 120,000 jobs a year. Due to economic restructuring and an ageing workforce, the number of jobs created in the last two years had gone down significantly. Singapore aims to create about 25,000 to 40,000 jobs annually for the next three to five years.”
Minister Lim Swee Say also blame “job mismatch” for the rising unemployment rate among Singapore PMETs, claiming that these educated professionals do not know where to look for jobs:
“While more jobs in the coming years will be aimed at professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), he said, there is a higher risk of mismatches between jobseekers and job openings. Jobseekers may not know where to look for jobs or what jobs are available, or they may not have the necessary skills or experience for the jobs that are available.”