Following the economic crisis, only about 45,000
                 jobs are expected to be created each year,
                 compared to the pre-crisis figure of 83,000

                 By LYDIA LIM

                 JOB creation has slowed since the economic crisis.

                 About 45,000 jobs a year are expected to be created
                 over the next five years, significantly fewer than the
                 pre-crisis figure of 83,000 new jobs a year from
                 1992 to 1997, Manpower Minister Lee Boon Yang
                 said.

                 Jobs will grow fastest in the services and
                 information-technology (IT) sectors, he said, boosted
                 by rapid growth in Internet and e-commerce
                 activities.

                 Dr Lee was responding to Pasir Ris MP Charles
                 Chong, who chairs the Government Parliamentary
                 Committee for Manpower. Mr Chong had asked
                 about a manpower-planning framework to identify
                 manpower trends in Parliament on Saturday.

                 Such a framework has been set up under the National
                 Manpower Council, which Dr Lee chairs. He said it
                 held its first meeting last month. In the next five years,
                 he said, the annual job-growth rate will be fastest in:

                  Business services (8,800).

                  Financial intermediation (5,900).

                  Computer-related activities (4,700).

                  Transport and logistics (4,000).

                  Education (2,800).

                  Health care (2,300).

                  Wholesale trade (1,900).

                  Petroleum and chemical (1,400).

                 This is provided the economy grows steadily at an
                 average of 5 per cent a year. The projection is also
                 based on what the council knows about investment
                 trends and business opportunities in the short term.

                 More important than numbers, Dr Lee said, is "the
                 projected change in demand in the different sectors of
                 the economy". In manufacturing, lower-value-added
                 jobs will continue to be replaced by
                 higher-value-added ones.

                 The Economic Development Board's Industry 21 plan
                 will generate about 15,000 jobs a year, two-thirds of
                 them for "fairly highly-skilled" workers.

                 New jobs will also be created in the electronics,
                 chemical and life-sciences industries, while
                 restructuring of the light manufacturing and electronics
                 industries will lead to more job losses.

                 In line with the move to knowledge-based activities,
                 demand for educated workers with degrees, diplomas
                 or post-secondary education will continue to grow,
                 while demand will shrink for workers with secondary
                 or lower education.

                 To help workers affected by such changes, the
                 council has recommended extending the Skills
                 Redevelopment Programme and the Strategic
                 Manpower Conversion Programme to more
                 industries, to help workers upgrade and find new jobs
                 if necessary.

                 It has also set new targets for university and
                 polytechnic intakes. The universities must enrol more
                 engineering, computer science, communications
                 studies and pharmacy students, and the polytechnics
                 must take in more students for media studies and
                 health-related subjects.

                       Adapted from The Straits Times, 13 Mar 2000.