THE report card for the Singapore Workforce Development Agency's (WDA) Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) is out.

The programme has trained more people than it aimed to, found jobs for many trainees who were unemployed, and saved countless others from being retrenched.

Started in November last year, the programme has enrolled 264,000 workers in its various training courses, exceeding the target of 220,000.

The programme also helped about 42,000 of them - unemployed citizens and permanent residents - find jobs, mainly in the food-and-beverage, cleaning, wholesale and retail-trade, manufacturing, and security sectors.

About seven in 10 were rank-and-file workers with up to secondary education. Six in 10 were aged 40 and above.

In addition, more than 2,770 others were given traineeships in more than 390 firms, under a government-funded Professional Skills Programme Traineeship scheme launched in May this year.

The jobless workers had been among 88,000 workers who had approached the WDA of their own accord. Others were employed but looking to acquire new skills for a career switch.

The rest - 169,000 workers who made up two thirds of the whole pool - were sent by 4,000 companies, which tapped Spur to cut costs, save jobs, and help displaced workers gain new skills and jobs.

In a Ministry of Manpower poll taken in the middle of this year, three in four companies with plans to retrench their workers said that they would postpone or reduce the number of affected workers, because of the introduction of Spur and the $4.5-billion Jobs Credit scheme, in which the Government subsidises companies for hiring Singaporeans and permanent residents.

Minister for Manpower Gan Kim Yong said yesterday: "Spur has helped companies save jobs and unemployed workers find jobs during the recession."

He added: "The Government will continue to help companies and workers improve long-term employability and workforce competitiveness, for sustained and inclusive economic growth."

The scheme will carry on for another year, as planned. About $350 million of the $600-million Spur budget has been used.

A four-month Spur course helped Mr George Stephen Nathen, 36, get a new job as a consultant for the food-and-beverage industry this month.

He had been retrenched from his restaurant-manager job by a restaurant in Esplanade, via an e-mail in March.

He now earns more than $3,000 a month, higher than his previous salary of $2,700.

He said: "Spur is very valuable during this time for people like me. Because of it, I was able to learn the skills to take on a job in a field that I wanted to try out."

cheryll@sph.com.sg

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