Singapore is targeting an employment rate of 40% for persons with disabilities (PWDs) by 2030, up from 34.7% currently, with new measures planned to help more people enter, remain and progress in work.
The measures include a new Employment Support Office, expanded job training and work exposure, and greater support for employers to redesign roles and provide workplace training.
They are among recommendations in a 67-page report by the Taskforce on Assurance for Families with Persons with Disabilities, released on 4 October.
New employment support office
National disability agency SG Enable will establish an Employment Support Office at the Enabling Village in Lengkok Bahru, with full operations expected in the second half of 2027.
The office will expand existing job placement services by providing longer-term skills and career support for PWDs, while helping employers navigate employment and workplace matters.
The push comes as job retention remains a challenge. Ministry of Manpower data from 2025 showed that only around one in four employed residents with disabilities had remained with the same employer for at least one year, while just 2.2% had stayed with the same employer for at least seven years.
More pathways into work
SG Enable will expand its Sector Train-and-Place programme from hospitality into five additional sectors, including food and beverage and information and communications technology.
The programme, piloted in 2025, is expected to help 800 PWDs gain employment between 2026 and 2030.
Students in special education schools, ITE and polytechnics will also receive more workplace exposure and training in workplace and soft skills. Special education schools offering the national curriculum will introduce activities such as workplace learning journeys and job tasters.
Transition support programmes will also be introduced as more students with disabilities move from special education schools into ITE and polytechnics.
Support for employers
The Government will also simplify and broaden support for employers hiring PWDs.
Three existing schemes, the Open Door Programme Job Redesign Grant, Open Door Programme Training Grant for Employers and Employer Development Grant, will be merged into a single Enabling Employment Grant.
The new grant will have a wider scope, including support for employers to customise in-house training for PWDs.
A new Supported-Enterprise Enabling Grant will allow eligible enterprises employing a significant proportion of PWDs with moderate support needs to fund training officers, therapists and psychologists.
The Enabling Employment Credit, which supports wages for PWDs earning below S$4,000 a month, will also have its income ceiling raised. The amount and duration of its temporary wage offset will also increase, with further details expected later in 2026.
Focus on job retention
The task force said support is particularly important during transitions from education to employment, when PWDs and their families can face uncertainty over finding and keeping jobs.
Goh Pei Mingm, Senior Minister of State for Social and Family Development said, “It’s always the transitions where perhaps expectations may fall short, where the family or the person with disability feels a little bit lost, and I think this is where we feel that we can do a bit more.”
The Government has committed to spending up to an additional 60% on average on a PWD over the next five years as part of wider measures covering employment, future care planning and community support.