Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Social and Family Development for the past two years (a) how many and what percentage of Social Service Agencies (SSA) faced shortfalls in staff members; and (b) what were the average and median number of staff members in the shortfall faced by each SSA.
Answer
1. Based on the Manpower and Salary Survey (MPSS)1 conducted by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) in 2019 across 187 Social Service Agencies (SSAs), about two-thirds of SSAs (125) reported having vacancies for permanent positions (both part-time and full-time) in their organisations at the time.
2. Among the SSAs reporting vacancies, the average vacancy rate was about 8%, the average number of vacancies per SSA was 15, and the median number was 4.
3. As SSAs may have programmes spanning different sub-sectors, these vacancies would include those in programmes outside the social service sector.
1The MPSS captured the majority of MSF/National Council of Social Service (NCSS)-funded agencies and a portion of unfunded agencies in the social service sector.
