Daily Lessons from Life 25 October 2010 - NTUC LearningHub spends over S$1m on training for PMETs

Channel NewsAsia: "NTUC LearningHub spends over S$1m on training for PMETs - 25 October 2010

SINGAPORE : The NTUC Learning Hub has spent at least S$1 million on new training programmes with overseas tie-ups to help professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).

The economic downturn last year hit PMETs the hardest - they faced the largest increase in job losses.

So the NTUC LearningHub is engaging renowned trainers from China and the US - such as Disney Institute, University of California at Berkeley and the Fashion Institute of Technology - to help PMETs acquire new skills.

The courses, which have attracted more than 200 PMETs, will also address Singapore's needs.

Lim Swee Say, NTUC's Secretary-General said: 'Having spent the last 14 years looking at how we can upgrade our rank and file workers, we've decided to broaden our reach. We'll continue to support the rank and file workers and at the same time, we're going to develop a parallel system, programme, initiatives to reach out to the PMET.

'This is because in the future, structural unemployment is a threat not just for the rank and file workers, but for the PMETs as well. In Europe today, many of the structurally unemployed workers are not just rank and file workers, they are knowledge workers.'"

Trade Union is no longer just for the rank and file workers. It is interesting and also alarming that PMETs are increasingly vulnerable to being mistreated by their employers. Or just that in Singapore, an increasing number of unemployed or retrenched are the older PMETs who probably are paid 'too much', relative to foreign talents or foreign workers or younger PMETs?

Lessons for me are:

1. continuous skills upgrading is a must for ALL workers, rank and file or PMETs. The key question is: what type of employment will there be in the current situation and the next 3-year?;

2. this involved a little of bit of crystal ball gazing and a little bit of luck. Spotting the emerging industries that will hire the most people at attracting compensation package has always being a hit and miss venture. This is especially so in Singapore as it is so dependent on the outside influence and events. Some are easily to spot. e.g. the hollowing out of manufacturing - low and middle end; e.g. the focus on service sector jobs like hotels, F&B, MICE; e.g. the high brain-power jobs like financial services, consulting, etc. Some of these take in newly skilled PMETs while some will need experienced PMETs that education alone will not be able to provide;

3. for the PMETs, it is really traumatic to decide between loyalty to the employers and being self-centered on one's own career. The rational can easily point to the fact that employers are no longer loyal to the employees, some out of choice while some have no choice. So, it is easy for them to be calculative and planned for themselves. As long as they are still contributing their 100% while in the employer's employed, it is acceptable. There is really no need for the drama or trauma.

May NTUC succeed in representing more PMETs and helping them up-skilled and avoid being unemployed!