CDCs see more people seeking help for jobs

CDCs see more people seeking help for jobs
By Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE: The number of people seeking job help from Singapore's five Community Development Councils (CDCs) is rising fast.

In January, there were about 14,000. The number rose past 17,000 in February.

According to Central Singapore CDC, retrenched workers make up about 10 to 20 per cent of those seeking help at its career centre.

To meet demand, CDC career centres have been beefing up their services over the past few months.

More staff have also been hired to cope with the workload, and new initiatives started to give applicants training in jobseeking skills.

Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong was briefed on these measures at the Central Singapore CDC on Tuesday.

He said that the CDCs are also provided with job counsellors who work with the professionals, managers, executives and technicians or PMETs to assess their employment and training needs so as to better prepare them for job placements.

The CDCs are collaborating with other agencies as well as self-help groups to coordinate job placement efforts.

To help the PMETs, the CDCs have come up with new initiatives such as workshops and seminars. The first such programme was started in January. 50 people took part, and 80 per cent of them have found jobs.

- CNA/ir

- wong chee tat :)