SINGAPORE – The National Trades Union Congress is calling for a fresh injection of Government funds for an existing grant scheme that defrays the cost for companies to rework business processes so more workers can be put in better jobs.

More than 85 per cent of the $100 million given to the Company Training Committee (CTC) Grant have been earmarked for approved projects, since the scheme was launched in 2022.

At the end of 2024, there are around 480 approved projects from over 330 companies.

The updates were provided by NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng on Jan 10 at a job fair organised by the labour movement.

“We hope that the Government will see the usefulness of the CTC (Company Training Commitee) Grant and partner NTUC once more to see how we can bring businesses to new heights, and with better businesses, take care of our workers,” he said.

“NTUC needs good employers – employers with vision, employers with good business practices – to succeed so that when their businesses succeed, they can give employment to Singaporeans.”

Over 7,400 workers are set to benefit from the funded CTC Grant projects via either an average wage increase of 5 per cent over and above their typical annual increment, or clearer pathways for career progression.

The CTC Grant is part of a wider CTC programme in which companies form committees together with unions and industry experts to map out what skills workers need to upgrade in the light of business and industry prospects launched in 2019.

Under the scheme, companies can apply to NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) to cover up to 70 per cent of the qualifying cost of projects that raise productivity, redesign jobs and upskill workers.

The NTUC Career Festival, held at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre on Jan 10 and Jan 11, is the first time the NTUC is showcasing the full suite of help it can provide to both employers and workers.

Mr Ng also spoke about Singapore workers’ anxieties over job security – an NTUC survey conducted over the last two months of 2024 found that 34 per cent of respondents were concerned about losing their jobs in the next three months.

Singapore’s economy is actually at full employment, but the restructuring of the economy is causing churn, he said.

“So when there’s churn, actually, there might well be the anxieties we’re observing. But importantly, how we react to the churn is most critical, because with the churn,...