$70m to help low-wage workers through IGP

In its drive to restructure Singapore's economy, the Government will also step up measures to ensure the blue-collar workforce is not left behind.

$70 million has been set aside for the next three years for the existing Inclusive Growth Programme (IGP), which will help companies - especially those employing low-wage workers - raise productivity.

Around 70,000 workers are expected to benefit as their companies tap on IGP's help and co-funding to adopt new technologies, streamline work processes and train staff.

Announcing this at a May Day dinner on Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and Manpower Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the IGP, which was launched in Aug 2010, is working.

As a result of the programme, some 33,000 low-wage workers have seen, on average, a basic pay increase of about 10 per cent, he said.

IGP is administered by NTUC and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), with over $30 million committed to the programme in the past two years.

"We must restructure our economy, to create better jobs and enable our workers to earn significantly higher pay over the next decade," Mr Tharman said.

"We are working to ensure that low-paid workers are the chief beneficiaries of our economic restructuring efforts."