Workforce Skills Qualification training improves job mobility

28% of employees with WSQ changed jobs in the last two years compared with 19% without WSQ training.

One in five resident (20%) employees changed jobs in the two years between 2007 and 2009. Workers who had undergone Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) training experienced greater job mobility. WSQ also significantly increased the chances of machine operators, cleaners and labourers moving to service, clerical, craftsmen and related occupations. These are the key findings from an occasional study on "Labour Mobility" released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

Main findings

Among the resident employees who switched jobs, most moved to occupations with similar skills level. More employees also moved within industries than across industries.

Workers who had undergone WSQ training experienced greater job mobility. Close to three in ten (28%) employees with WSQ changed jobs in the last two years, compared with two in ten (19%) employees without WSQ training. Results of an econometric analysis, which isolated the impact of various factors, confirmed that WSQ training enhanced workers' mobility, significantly increasing the chances of plant & machine operators, cleaners and labourers moving to service, clerical, craftsmen & related occupations. WSQ also benefited professionals, managers, executives & technicians (PMETs) and those in service, clerical, craftsmen & related occupations, increasing their odds of transiting to similarly-skilled occupations.

Reflecting the wide spectrum of WSQ programmes for services occupations, resident employees with WSQ were more likely to move within services after a job switch than those without WSQ. Similarly, WSQ training facilitated movement of workers from manufacturing to services.

Labour mobility varied less significantly with education, with degree (21%) and diploma (20%) holders only slightly more likely to change jobs than those without secondary qualifications (19 to 20%). The econometric results showed that higher formal qualification, especially university education, strongly facilitated the move to PMET occupations.

Labour mobility generally decreased with age. Nearly three in ten (28%) workers aged below 30 changed jobs between 2007 and 2009. This decreased progressively to around one in ten (11%) for those aged above 60. The econometric analysis confirmed that older resident employees had a lower probability of changing jobs as individuals become more settled in their careers and shoulder increased responsibilities with age.

The most mobile employees were from hotels & restaurants (27%), information & communications (25%), professional services (24%), administrative & support services (24%) and construction (24%). In contrast, employees from community, social & personal services were the least likely to have changed jobs (14%).