Building a Caring, Inclusive and Empowering Society for the Disabled

Chairman, working and holding a job is an important component of a good quality of life for everyone, regardless of abilities. Whether full or part-time, work helps pay for one's daily living and also leads to better mental health and a sense of fulfilment and dignity.

In recent years, developments, such as the SG Enable unit, the Open Door Fund and the Special Employment Credit have positively impacted the employment scene for persons with special needs or disabilities, or PWDs.

Employers, such as the United Overseas Bank, National Library Board, Starbucks, Uniqlo and others have tapped on structured employment support services by VWOs such as MINDS, SPD and ARC. Kudos to them, numerous PWDs have been gainfully employed.

However, the picture is not that rosy. It has been reported that in 2017, only five in 100 PWDs in Singapore are officially working, and this is quoted as one of the lowest in developed nations. Key barriers are several: one, an unwillingness of potential employers caused by stigmatisation and reluctance to re-design job processes; two, a lack of a large enough pipeline of trained PWDs upstream; and three, an inability to focus and scale by agencies such as SG Enable due to resource restrictions.

I have the following clarifications and recommendations MOM's consideration.

What is the accountability of MOM to this special needs workforce?

How can it increase the employment rate of PWDs in Singapore?

How will MOM tap on its vast infrastructure and network to help them identify more suitable job families in both blue and white-collared jobs?

Will MOM resource and support the hiring of inclusion managers to work with SG Enable and disability VWOs to customise skills frameworks for suitable job families identified?

Will MOM set targets to aspire major employers to up their hire rate for PWDs? Start with a minimum 1% target for large employers with staff strengths of more than 1,000. Start with the public service!

Will MOM provide more incentives for inclusive employers such as: one, making the Special Employment Credit (SEC) for PWDs a permanent feature so that employers are assured of on-going support; and two, increasing this amount or make it an inclusivity allowance to the employer so that beyond subsidising the CPF of its workers with special needs, the employer can also pay for job coaching services.

Sir, in taking a more leading active role in developing this special workforce, MOM will not only be a contributor to building a caring and inclusive society, it will also strategically enhance the employment rate of Singaporeans and help to solve the manpower crunch in our country.