SINGAPORE - Workers and employers still benefit from skills training, but some are growing less enamoured of it, findings from a Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) survey last year showed.
More companies wanted to keep sending workers for training, but fewer felt it was helping business performance, according to the results of the annual Outcomes Evaluation Survey released on Wednesday (July 20).
In all six categories of the survey, fewer employees who underwent Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) training felt it was useful.
Of these, 88.4 per cent felt the training helped them perform more efficiently, down from 94 per cent in 2014.
Only 7.8 per cent thought the training aided them in getting a promotion, down from 12.2 per cent in 2014, while 11.3 per cent said it led to a pay increment, down from 17.6 per cent.
Fewer workers wanted to continue training, with 88.2 per cent saying they wanted to take up other WSQ courses, compared to 90.8 per cent in 2014.
Companies showed a more positive sentiment, with more than 97 per cent saying they would continue to send their employees for WSQ training.
But only 54.6 per cent felt the training was making their workers more productive, down from 76.2 per cent in 2014.
The WDA said these results were likely to be due to weaker economic conditions, which could have affected business performance or hindered career prospects for employees.
The survey was conducted with 6,116 WSQ trainees and 1,566 companies between last September and this January.
WDA chief executive Ng Cher Pong said: "WDA is committed to intensifying our efforts to help our local workforce adapt to the changing workforce needs and to grow in their job roles.
"Under SkillsFuture, we have gone beyond WSQ training to broaden the range of support available to individuals in their skills deepening and mastery journey throughout their careers.
"We will continue to work closely with employers to build up their human resource capabilities and strengthen their Singaporean core for sustainable business growth."
