SPP’s Khan Osman Sulaiman questions the kind of jobs offered to S’poreans under SGUnited jobs package

Singapore People’s Party’s (SPP) Khan Osman Sulaiman on Wednesday (12 August) shared a screenshot of an email he received from the Sembawang Community Club informing him of the available jobs under the government’s S$2 billion jobs and training package.

In the screenshot of the email shared by Mr Osman on his Facebook page, it lists job openings for four companies in positions such as hair consultant and roadshow promoter for Beijing 101; service, kitchen and dining crew for Jollibee; service and kitchen crew for different eateries under Royal T Group; and security officer for Royal Security.

Mr Osman said in his post, “I guess the bulk of the 100,000 jobs on offer for Singaporeans will look like this. 90% blue collar jobs.”

“The white collar jobs will probably go to CECA members, S Pass and E Pass holders,” he added.

The SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package was announced in the Fortitude Budget in June which included measures to help those affected by the COVID-19 economic slowdown. It aims to create “close to 100,000 opportunities in three areas”, namely 40,000 jobs in both the public and private sectors, 25,000 traineeships and 30,000 skills training, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat during the budget presentation.

The public sector will create 15,000 jobs to meet Singapore’s long-term needs such as early childhood education, healthcare and long-term care and short-term needs related to COVID-19 such as healthcare declaration assistants and swabbers, added the minister.

Government agencies will also be working with businesses to create 25,000 jobs “in a wide range of job roles, such as computer engineers, and machine operators”, said Mr Heng.

Previously in April, Maybank Kim Eng senior economist Chua Hak Bin and economist Lee Ju Ye estimated that the number of retrenchments in Singapore this year could range between 150,000 and 200,000 despite the Government’s earlier fiscal stimulus packages, Later, that projection was lowered 100,000 to 150,000.

The impact of COVID-19 on the economy has been alarming. According to the Ministry of Manpower, Singapore’s overall unemployment rate rose over Q1 in March from 2.3 to 2.4 per cent. The citizen unemployment rate rose from 3.3 to 3.5 per cent. Among residents, the rate went up from 3.2 to 3.3 per cent.