Attracting Local Workers in Senior Care Industry

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang
MP for Nee Soon GRC

Question No. 1215
To ask the Minister for Health for the senior care industry (a) what is the percentage of local workers; and (b) what are the plans to attract more locals.

Written Answer

1        Based on data reported by MOH-subvented service providers in 2018, there were 12,000 workers working in the Long Term Care’ (LTC) sector^[1], of which about 40% are locals.

2        We have been enhancing the attractiveness of LTC jobs to locals by a) raising awareness and interest in job opportunities within the sector, b) providing training and development opportunities, and c) increasing salary competitiveness.

3        For example, the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) works with LTC providers and recruitment partners like Workforce Singapore (WSG) and Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) to facilitate local employment and raise awareness of job opportunities in the LTC sector. In 2018, more than 1,000 locals have joined the LTC sector through various recruitment efforts.

4        MOH and AIC also support LTC providers in staff training and development. For example, training for newly hired local support care staff^[2] can be funded under the Community Care Traineeship Programme (CCTP) so they can be equipped with requisite skills to perform in their new roles. Providers are also eligible for on-the-job training support of up to $10,000 per local support staff recruited to facilitate mentoring, supervision and development of new hires. Local staff may apply for sponsorship through the Community Care Manpower Development Award (CCMDA) to pursue advance training in skills relevant to their work.

5        Lastly, to increase local salary competitiveness, MOH works with employers to review salaries of workers regularly to ensure that they are adequately recognised for their efforts. Between 2012 and 2017, MOH had provided funding support to raise wages of workers across participating providers which saw a 30% increase in aggregate over this period.

6        Going forward, we will continue to step up our efforts to attract locals to this sector.

^[1] This comprises LTC providers providing residential, centre-based and home-based care services.

^[2] Support care staff refers to staff with job scope requiring the provision of direct care services to clients/ residents in LTC care services through nursing or therapy support.