EMPHASIS ON OLDER, LOW-WAGE WORKERS

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SINGAPORE - As the Government invests in continuing education, it will place "additional emphasis" on older, low-wage workers, said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.

This will be done through a new Workfare Training Scheme (WTS), and enhancements to the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme.

Under the three-year WTS, employers will be given 90 to 95 per cent funding for absentee payroll and course fee outlays. Workers who complete skills upgrading training will be given up to $400 a year in cash grants.

Those with very low skills, including the unemployed, can also sign up for a structured training programme.

The scheme seeks to help older workers, even though it is open to all eligible WIS recipients, who are 35 and above, said Mr Shanmugaratnam.

The WIS itself will see two enhancements. First, WIS will be extended to workers earning up to $1,700 per month, up from the current limit of $1,500.

Secondly, the maximum payouts for the WIS will be increased by between $150 to $400, with more going to older workers. Workers who have worked at least three months in any six-month period in the year, now get between $180 and $2,400.

With the higher WIS payout, a 60-year-old will get $400 more, bringing his total annual WIS payment to $2,800. Likewise, a 55-year-old earning $1,000 monthly will receive an additional 18-per-cent top-up to his pay through the WIS.

Mr Shanmugaratnam called this a "significant intervention".

The enhanced WIS will cost an additional $100 million annually, and will benefit about 400,000 low-wage earners.

Mr Tim Hird, managing director of Robert Half Singapore, said both schemes would help employers retain experienced and valuable employees, while Food Drinks and Allied Workers' Union general secretary Tan Hock Soon said the Government support will "put more workers at ease" about going for training.

But the owner of Crusade Cleaning Services, Mr Peter Ko, said while the schemes are encouraging, "older workers have no motivating factor to upgrade themselves".

However, he is more than willing to send keen younger workers for English-language courses, having previously paid for them out of his own pocket.

Mayor for South West District Amy Khor said the "mental barriers" that employees cannot spare the time for upgrading, or fear they are not educated enough can be overcome "with time". She noted that the WTS funding would "encourage employers", and while the $400 cash grant "is not a huge sum, it is significant for many lower-income families".

From TODAY, Tuesday, 23-Feb-2010

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