PMETs stand for Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians.
Global Economy
What is happening now is that the global economy is experiencing a slow down not seen before and many companies are restructuring and retrenching. Furthermore, the un-expected fall of oil prices had also cause many oil related companies to run into financial difficulties. This resulted in large-scale retrenchment in companies such as Keppel Corporation where about 6,000 direct staff in its local and overseas yards was axed in a bid to slash costs and optimize its current operations.
Retrenchment
As the majority of the Singaporeans are now highly educated, we can see that many of those retrenched are holding PMET jobs. Fortunately, according to the Ministry of Manpower statistics, it was found that it was far easier to fill PMET job openings in contrast to position such as security guards, waiters, retail shop assistants and cleaners.
Skill Mis-matched
As technologies advances, our economy will be transformed and retrenched PMET need to learn skills. Our Government recognizes this and had setup the SkillsFuture fund to help Singaporean to upgrade their skills. This Government programme was kicked off in January 2016 and gives every Singaporean aged 25 and older $500 credit to pay for skills course. Besides that, the Government also encourages employers to work with unions to redesign jobs and nurture their employees. As PMET, we also have to partner with employers and stay relevant for the future.
Training Courses
To-date the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) had mention that the number of courses available under the scheme now has about 12,500 courses. WDA will continue to interview Singaporeans so as to determine the sort of skills that are required and it will be quite diverse if it were to meet all their training needs. Besides the offline courses, WDA has also made available about 1,072 online courses for busy PMETs who cannot spare time to attend those classroom courses. For example, MS Vanessa Wong 39, had recently completed an online course on web development which taught her basic coding and how to use the right words on her page so that it pops up more often on the search engines which she applied and used it on her tuition website. She is in favor of online courses as it benefits people like her who have to work irregular hours. With online courses, you can log into the training providers portal and take her course anytime and anywhere.
Job Portal
For unemployed PMETs, you should start your search using the Jobs Bank database which is administered by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA). This government job portal is used by employers applying for MOM's Employment Pass to fulfill the advertising requirements under MOM's Fair Consideration Framework. The job bank portal helps Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents to facilitate online job matching between local job seekers and employers.
Executive Workshop
If you are still unable to find a job after six months, you should consider joining the executive workshop which was designed to equip Professionals, Managers and Executives with the necessary skills to enhance their employability. The e2i is another government portal setup to help PMETs.
Career Support Programme
If you are a Singapore Citizen, age 40 and above (Birth year), unemployed for 6 months or more and actively seeking for an employment and you have the choice to get yourself assessed by e2i or WDA Career Centers so as to join their CSP programme.
The Career Support Programme (CSP) is a limited wage support programme to encourage employers to offer suitable job opportunities to mature Singaporean Professionals, Managers and Executives (PMEs) to tap on the wealth of experience they may bring to the workplace. Employers must commit to offering structured/approved training to the PMEs recruited and fulfill other eligibility criteria. CSP will be piloted from 1 October 2015 for a period of two years and is part of the suite of career services offered by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) Career Centers and the e2i(Employment and Employability Institute).
If you visit their portal, look for more information under the FOR INDIVIDUALS section.
You can visit their portal first at https://e2i.com.sg or visit the center directly at the following address.
Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability
80 Jurong East Street 21
Singapore 609607
Conclusion
Overall, as compare to many other countries, our government had created many new employment and re-training opportunities to keep the PMETs unemployment rate at a low rate of 2.9% despite the many layoffs. MOM statistics shows that the majority of the PMETs were able to re-enter the workforce quickly. The long-term unemployment rates which refer to those unable to get a job for more than six months is even lower at 0.7% and it is among the lowest rates internationally.
