Fewer firms saw positive effects of Workforce Skills Qualifications courses: survey

Work productivity dropped to 54.6% in 2015.

The soft economy has dampened positive effects of Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) courses, as a survey by the Workforce Development Authority (WDA) revealed that fewer companies saw WSQ has positively impacting overall business performance.

Work productivity fell from 76.2% in 2014 to 54.6% in 2015. In the same period, quality of services tumbled from 73.9% to 55.7% while sales and profitability sank from 48.3% to 30.5%. WDA asserts that this is on back of the weaker economy.

On the flip side, over 9 in 10 (7%) firms indicate that they would continue to send employed for WSQ training, reflecting a 1.7 percentage point uptick from last year’s results. Over 9 in 10 (91%) of firms also report that WSQ training had a positive impact on their employees’ skills application.

Meanwhile, over 8 in 10 (88.2%) trainees surveyed shared they would further take up other WSQ training.

Further, the survey revealed that over 9 in 10 (91.3%) trainees stated that they were able to apply the skills learnt through WSQ training. However, fewer trainees reported positive outcomes of career advancement or promotion on back of to WSQ training.