New report outlines plans to widen talent pool amid crunch

Schemes for students, seniors and at-home mums to learn more skills among proposals

- Sharon Salim

Students, seniors and stay-athome mothers who want jobs would benefit from programmes designed to help them pick up additional skills.

The initiative, just one in a series of recommendations in a new report, would help address challenges in the local labour market, Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad noted on Oct 10.

"There remains a huge untapped pool of talent who would be willing to work if suitable opportunities are available," he noted at the People Behind People Forum held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre at Marina Bay Sands.

He added that around 25 per cent of the 1.12 million residents who are outside the workforce are retirees, while another 25 per cent are aged 15 to 24, and 8 per cent have caregiving responsibilities.

"To address the labour market crunch, employers must look beyond existing talent pools," Mr Zaqy said, in a reference to widening the hiring pool to boost the take-up of hard-to-fill roles such as front-line retail jobs.

Developing programmes to attract talent was one of eight recommendations proposed in a report from the Alliance for Action (Af A) on widening Access to Talent formed to increase talent competitiveness amid manpower constraints.