About 540,000 Singaporeans benefited from initiatives supported by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) last year, 40,000 more than in 2019.
The number of enterprises that benefited remained constant at 14,000, the agency said on Tuesday in announcing its annual review.
THE COVID-19 RESPONSE
Efforts over the years to build up a robust and sizeable continuing education and training ecosystem allowed for a quick response to the impact of Covid-19 on individuals and enterprises, SSG said.
New measures were quickly implemented, and existing initiatives were adjusted to support those affected by the pandemic, it said.
The SGUnited Skills Programme and SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme were launched with the aim of providing individuals with training opportunities to upskill themselves and enhance their employability for transition to new careers or roles.
Both programmes are part of the national SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package.
As at December last year, about 9,800 individuals had enrolled in those programmes - 7,200 under the SGUnited Skills Programme and 2,600 under the company training track of the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme.
The infocomm technology and media, professional services, manufacturing and healthcare sectors reported high enrolment, SSG said.
Enterprises in severely affected sectors also received aid through the Enhanced Training Support Package, which was rolled out in March last year to provide enhanced absentee payroll support and enhanced course fee subsidies for eight sectors.
The air transport and tourism sectors had a strong take-up rate, filling up more than 59,000 training places and 44,000 training places respectively, out of a total of about 155,000 training places.
More than 72,000 employees across 1,300 enterprises benefited in all.
WORK-STUDY PATHWAYS
More Singaporeans - 188,000, up from 156,000 in 2019 - also used their SkillsFuture Credit last year.
About 3,400 enterprises also sent their employees for training in courses under the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit.
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188,000
Number of Singaporeans who used their SkillsFuture Credit last year.
156,000
Number of Singaporeans who used their SkillsFuture Credit in 2019.
Since the introduction of the National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning, which helps local companies develop their own groups of certified instructors, about 180 enterprises have embarked annually on programmes and implemented workplace learning processes.
About 250 enterprises also benefited from the SkillsFuture Queen Bee partnerships last year, tapping the expertise and knowledge of anchor "Queen Bee" companies to enhance their employee skills development and workplace learning capabilities.
In the area of educational pathways, students from the Institute of Technical Education as well as the polytechnics and autonomous universities continued to participate in the SkillsFuture Work-Study Programmes despite the economic downturn, said SSG.
Last year, 590 companies participated in the programmes, providing placements for about 1,700 individuals to gain work and industry experience while pursuing academic and work qualifications.
This is down from 600 companies and 2,200 individuals in 2019.
SSG chief executive Ong Tze-Ch'in said: "2020 was a challenging year... As we look ahead to 2021, SSG will continue to support individuals, focusing on unemployed job seekers and employers, especially those in affected sectors."
