SINGAPORE - About 7,000 job placements emerged last year from place-and-train programmes, which secure employment before training, said Minister of State for Education Gan Siow Huang.

These placements were under the Professional Conversion Programmes and Work-Study programmes supported by Workforce Singapore and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG).

Ms Gan, who was responding to a question from Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang) on Wednesday (Oct 14) in Parliament, said another 2,400 placements came from train-and-place programmes last year.

Trainees in these schemes received employment assistance from training providers to secure jobs after the course.

Mr Yip had asked the Ministry of Education about the number of people who attended SkillsFuture training programmes in the past year, and later found a job related to their course.

He also asked how the ministry measures the outcomes of the training programmes.

Ms Gan said SSG conducts surveys to find out the quality of courses, as well as those that are specific to certain programmes, such as the Work-Study Programme Outcomes Survey.

The survey on work-study programmes collects data on indicators such as employment and retention rates, as well as wage outcomes of graduates.

Ms Gan said that last year, 87 per cent of graduates surveyed were employed in full-time jobs - six months after completing the Work-Study Programme.

She added that follow-up surveys are also conducted with trainees six months after the completion of SSG-funded courses to determine post-training outcomes.

More than 80 per cent of trainees surveyed last year indicated that they were able to perform better at work after undergoing SkillsFuture training, said Ms Gan. The capacity of training programmes is being scaled up this year to better support workers, she added.