At the Budget 2020 statement on 18 February, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced a $4 billion Stabilisation and Support Package to keep workers in their jobs and help enterprises with cash flow. Additional support was earmarked for sectors more directly affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.
The tourism industry is one of those that will be most badly hit.
On Friday, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), Workforce Singapore (WSG), Singapore Hotel Association (SHA), and the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU), jointly released more details about the different measures to navigate the business, manpower and economic uncertainties arising from the Covid-19 situation, and to face both short-term and long-term challenges head on.
Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister for Manpower, and Mr Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Education, introduced the initiatives during a learning journey to Copthorne King’s Hotel Singapore. These measures include a two-tier support:
Broad-based, certifiable training that is curated for the hospitality sector - Employers may tap on absentee payroll funding to defray manpower costs incurred when they send their workers for certifiable training during working hours. In turn, the workers can achieve higher value-added skills to increase skills productivity; and/or
Hotel Job Redesign Place-and-Train programmes by WSG (Programme manager: SHA) - employers may tap on salary funding support to transform jobs and invest in training of their workers in the redesigned job roles during this period.
At the event, SHA and FDAWU also signed an MOU to commit to working together to save jobs, build confidence and deepen capabilities of employees to prepare for recovery and growth. The MOU was facilitated by STB.
Such ground-up efforts and commitment from the employers and the union, together with the support rolled out by the various government agencies, make up the latest wave of relief measures to minimise potential retrenchment, upskill workers and redesign jobs to prepare the sector for when business demand returns.
Mr Tan Choon Shian, Chief Executive of WSG said: “The tourism sector plays an important part in the Singapore economy. We hope that these measures to help companies defray training and wage costs through reskilling workers will give those operating and working in the sector some respite during this trying period. It also ensures that businesses reliant on tourism will have the manpower they need to meet business demand when it returns. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide targeted support to help shoulder their burden.”
