MANPOWER Minister Gan Kim Yong made a pledge yesterday to do more to make Singapore 'a home for talent', both local and foreign. His ministry has lined up several plans to achieve it.

These include developing good employment practices, high standards of workplace safety and health, and a 'well-managed' foreign workforce.

In laying them out in an addendum to the President's address on Monday, he said: 'We will do more to position Singapore as a home for talent, both local and foreign, with a compelling proposition of fulfilling career opportunities and high quality of life.'

The President, in opening Parliament's second session, had provided an overview of the Government's strategies for the remaining legislative term.

Following it, ministries are laying out their respective plans in their addenda, which provide a framework for MPs to debate when Parliament sits next week, from Monday.

As the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) maps out its long-term vision, it faces one immediate task: tackling the current crisis.

At a press briefing on MOM's addendum, Mr Gan said government measures to minimise job losses have worked, keeping unemployment levels low.

He showed a chart comparing the jobless rates of various economies. Singapore's rate in March was 3.2 per cent, lower than that in economies such as the United States (8.9 per cent), the United Kingdom (7.1 per cent) and Hong Kong (5.1 per cent).

Credit, he said, should go to schemes such as Jobs Credit which subsidises employers' wage bill, and the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) which subsidises worker training.

Giving an update on Spur which his ministry administers, he said 1,400 companies have committed themselves to sending 94,000 workers for training.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.