SINGAPORE (Oct 31): Skills upgrading for construction workers in Singapore will be made mandatory from January next year as the government seeks to boost productivity in the labour-intensive sector.

Between January next year and December 2016, construction companies will be required to have up to 10% of their workforce classified as higher-skilled, the Ministry of Manpower said in a statement.

From January 2017, at least 10% of their workforce will need to attain that level.

At present, about 60% of construction companies meet the higher requirement, according to the manpower ministry.

With the change, the Building and Construction Authority will phase out the so-called CoreTrade deployment requirement for tradesmen in order to focus on developing key construction personnel to become foremen and supervisors.

This will provide construction firms with more senior employees to guide less experienced workers.

CoreTrade is an initiative to help workers with basic skills move up the value chain through a career progression path.

To retain experienced workers, construction companies will be allowed to rehire staff at the end of their work-permit period without these workers having to first leave Singapore.

This change, which takes effect from June next year, will give construction companies greater certainty, the ministry said.