CDCs see almost 50% jump in number of job seekers
By Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 17 February 2009 2017 hrs
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CDCs see almost 50% jump in number of job seekers
SINGAPORE : More people are seeking help at Community Development Councils (CDCs) - reflecting signs of a deepening recession.
All five CDCs saw an almost 50 per cent spike in the number of job seekers for January alone, compared to four months ago.
Some 40 per cent more people also sought financial assistance in January.
From October to January, some 10,000 job seekers turned up at the CDCs for help, while another 21,000 sought financial assistance.
Giving this update on behalf of the five CDCs in Singapore, Mayor of North West CDC Teo Ho Pin said that while the help extended has seen results, the councils are boosting capacity to cope with the rising case loads.
To date, six to seven out of 10 job seekers who approach the CDCs are successful. To keep these rates up, more is being done to boost the capacity at all five CDCs.
This includes increasing staff strength at service centres so that more applicants can be attended to daily. CDCs are also tying up with headhunters and employment agencies to help job seekers from a range of sectors and with different skills sets.
Dr Teo said: "What the CDCs would do is that we will monitor the impact of the recession on the residents, especially we are very concerned about the next few months, whether there will be more lay offs.
"If there are more retrenchments and workers being made redundant, then we will see how we can further boost up our existing schemes, and if need be, we will come up with new schemes to help very specific segments of residents affected."
All five CDCs have also collaborated to come up with a Recession and Resilience Roadmap, which is essentially a help directory for those in need.
Other than tips to cope with the economic downturn, the booklet, available in all four languages, also provides the various helplines, employment and retraining opportunities available.
Dr Teo added that although there is more help for residents to cope with the recession, programmes to promote social bonding and cohesion have not taken a back seat. - CNA/ms
By Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 17 February 2009 2017 hrs
Photos 1 of 2
Related News
• Five CDCs to launch recession and resilience roadmap to help residents
Related Videos
CDCs see almost 50% jump in number of job seekers
SINGAPORE : More people are seeking help at Community Development Councils (CDCs) - reflecting signs of a deepening recession.
All five CDCs saw an almost 50 per cent spike in the number of job seekers for January alone, compared to four months ago.
Some 40 per cent more people also sought financial assistance in January.
From October to January, some 10,000 job seekers turned up at the CDCs for help, while another 21,000 sought financial assistance.
Giving this update on behalf of the five CDCs in Singapore, Mayor of North West CDC Teo Ho Pin said that while the help extended has seen results, the councils are boosting capacity to cope with the rising case loads.
To date, six to seven out of 10 job seekers who approach the CDCs are successful. To keep these rates up, more is being done to boost the capacity at all five CDCs.
This includes increasing staff strength at service centres so that more applicants can be attended to daily. CDCs are also tying up with headhunters and employment agencies to help job seekers from a range of sectors and with different skills sets.
Dr Teo said: "What the CDCs would do is that we will monitor the impact of the recession on the residents, especially we are very concerned about the next few months, whether there will be more lay offs.
"If there are more retrenchments and workers being made redundant, then we will see how we can further boost up our existing schemes, and if need be, we will come up with new schemes to help very specific segments of residents affected."
All five CDCs have also collaborated to come up with a Recession and Resilience Roadmap, which is essentially a help directory for those in need.
Other than tips to cope with the economic downturn, the booklet, available in all four languages, also provides the various helplines, employment and retraining opportunities available.
Dr Teo added that although there is more help for residents to cope with the recession, programmes to promote social bonding and cohesion have not taken a back seat. - CNA/ms
