By Cai Haoxiang

LABOUR chief Lim Swee Say wants the Government to send a clear signal to employers that the Jobs Credit scheme is not here to stay.

By doing so, it would signal to employers that the wage subsidy scheme is for Singapore to buy time in order for companies and workers to upgrade and stay competitive, he told reporters at an event for grassroots leaders yesterday.

Companies that fail to do so will have to move elsewhere, he said, while pointing out that employers should not become over-reliant on the Jobs Credit scheme.

Hence, the main concern of the labour movement is whether the momentum in improving workers' productivity and enhancing companies' capabilities and adaptability 'will move fast enough'.

The pace is critical. 'As we enter more and more into the upturn, saving jobs is necessary but insufficient,' he added.

Increasingly vital is the need to keep the jobs in Singapore as well as to create jobs, he argued, because developed countries, plagued with high unemployment rates, will compete keenly for these jobs as well as job-creating investments.

Mr Lim, who is NTUC secretary-general, noted that unemployment in developed countries is 8.5 per cent and heading towards 10 per cent.

In Singapore, latest figures show unemployment standing at 3.3 per cent in June, and Mr Lim credits it to Jobs Credit and Spur, a subsidised training programme.

The $4.5 billion Jobs Credit scheme is a one-year aid programme that ends in December. It pays employers 12 per cent of workers' wages for the first $2,500 each month.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is expected to announce what will happen to it on Oct 13, at an NTUC conference.

Mr Lim was speaking at the 45th anniversary celebration of the National Community Leadership Institute.

It held a workshop for 450 grassroots leaders to exchange success stories and best practices for them to make a greater impact on the ground.

In his speech to them, Mr Lim highlighted the need to strengthen the effectiveness of the 28,000 grassroots volunteers in a society where socio-economic and generational gaps could widen in the future.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.