By Jermyn Chow

MORE Singaporeans are being encouraged to join the construction industry to help ease the shortage of tradesmen and foremen.

The move is also aimed at reducing our reliance on foreign workers who currently fill the bulk of entry-level positions in Singapore.

To woo local workers, the Government will help defray the costs of training by subsidising courses at the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Academy in order to re-skill and turn workers into trained electricians and construction plant operators.

The training will also equip new entrants with knowledge so they can take advantage of opportunities to become supervisors, managers, executives and technicians - known as PMETs - who typically earn more.

New local entrants can expect to earn between $1,400 and $1,700 a month while PMETs can take home between $1,600 and $3,500 per month.

Together with partners such as the National Trades Union Congress and the Workforce Development Agency, the BCA will tap into the recently launched $600 million Government programme - dubbed the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience or Spur - to fund the various training schemes and subsidies.

'We need to have more locals who can stay for the long term in the industry to form a core team to lead the transient foreign workforce that comes and goes,' explained BCA's deputy CEO (Industry and Corporate Development) Lam Siew Wah.

Currently, there are about 200,000 construction workers in Singapore, of whom about one in five is a Singaporean. The Government hopes to double that number in the long term.

Meanwhile, a new portal, www.buildingcareers.sg, was launched by Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education Grace Fu yesterday to get the message out to more people.

Speaking to about 300 graduates from the BCA Academy yesterday, she assured them that the current economic meltdown has not chilled the construction industry, which is 'holding out well so far'.

She added that domestic construction demand is estimated at $30 billion this year.

Yet, many contractors have cautioned that the industry will slow down in the next two years, possibly as early as the second half of next year.

However, Mr Von Lee, executive chairman of home-grown construction firm Expand, said: 'Workers do not have to worry too much as we would only slash jobs as a last resort.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on December 06, 2008.