MTI Internship: Assessing the Effectiveness of and Streamlining Singapore’s Jobs

Resource Division (RD) - Assessing the Effectiveness of and Streamlining Singapore’s Jobs and Skills (JS) Schemes for Economic Development

Over the past decade, Singapore has introduced a wide variety of JS schemes focused on training and upskilling / reskilling to ensure that workers stay productive and globally competitive with industry-relevant skills. As our economy restructures towards higher value-added activities, there is a strategic need to link Continuing Education and Training (CET) more tightly to economic outcomes. In this regard, JS schemes should support: 1. Industrial development policies for outward-oriented and productivity-driven sectors (e.g. advanced manufacturing, financial and professional services, digital and green economy); 2. Creation, access and upgrading of good local jobs that pay well; 3. Switches that enable workers to move to jobs in more productive firms and sectors; and 4. More efficient use of fiscal resources on schemes that yield stronger economic outcomes (i.e. wage, productivity, employment in good jobs). Today, individual schemes are evaluated by implementing agencies, and there is a limited system-wide, comparative analysis across schemes using a consistent economic lens. This creates challenges in budget prioritisation, resource allocation, rationalising overlaps and scaling the most effective JS instruments. This project will build an integrated WOG, cross-scheme lens and an economic prioritisation framework to complement agencies’ existing evaluations and inform future CET design and funding decisions. Objective Analyse the effectiveness of Singapore’s JS initiatives in driving existing and future industry development and key economic outcomes, including employment in good jobs, productivity, and real wage growth. This should consider growing external disruptions and domestic constraints such as automation and AI, declining population growth and ageing. We also want to take the opportunity to streamline the landscape to make it simple for businesses (employers) and employees to understand and access the schemes. Scope The project comprises three modules: Module 1: Review of JS schemes in Singapore’s CET landscape • Undertake a stocktake of major JS schemes in Singapore’s CET landscape, by organising the schemes based on their alignment with core economic outcomes (i.e. wage, productivity, employment in good jobs). • For each JS scheme, compile a standardised fact sheet that includes: o Objective and target audience; o Policy instruments used (e.g. training subsidies, wage support); o Scale and reach (e.g. number of participating trainees/firms); o Outcomes achieved (e.g. employment, job placement, wage growth). o Assessment of the take-up rate (as a proxy of what employers and employees think is useful) Deliverable: A consolidated stocktake matrix and portfolio of JS scheme fact sheets Module 2: Analysis of Jobs and Skills Schemes • Develop an economic framework to rank and prioritise JS schemes based on their contribution to indicators that include but are non-exhaustive: o Economic value-added and productivity; o Creation / upgrading of good local jobs with real wage growth; o Strategic importance to Singapore’s long-term economic positioning; and o Fiscal cost-effectiveness (cost-to-serve) Deliverable: An economic framework with accompanying scoring template and comparative assessment to compare across JS schemes Module 3: Develop Policy Recommendations • Generate policy recommendations: o Portfolio-and-scheme level: Illustrate what an optimal CET portfolio should comprise. This should include recommendations to (i) scale JS schemes with high economic impact, (ii) redesign middling schemes (e.g. sharper targeting, better link to actual vacancies, performance-based funding), and (iii) rationalise/sunset low-impact and / or overlapping JS schemes o System level: (i) Strengthen system-level governance and prioritisation of JS interventions in alignment with economic strategies, (ii) suggest ways to clarify roles across MTI, MOM, MOE and economic agencies to minimise overlap and improve JS portfolio coherence. o Fiscal-and-governance level: Identify opportunities to reallocate CET budgets from low to higher-impact schemes, and (ii) recommend how standardised performance metrics can be embedded into future funding decisions and scheme renewals (e.g. productivity impact). Deliverable: Policy note detailing recommendations at a (i) portfolio and scheme-level, (ii) system-level and (iii) fiscal and governance level. In addition to the above, the project should consult key stakeholders, including but not limited to Economic Agencies, Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs), Jobs and Skills agencies and industry experts, to socialise and validate research hypotheses.

• Strong critical thinking and analytical skills • Strong interpersonal, writing and communication skills • Ability to work independently, with resourcefulness in solving new problems • Keen interest in policy-making • Understanding of and interest in manpower issues and challenges