SINGAPORE: The Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) wage subsidy scheme will be extended for certain groups of workers by another six months to September this year, said Senior Minister of State for Manpower Koh Poh Koon on Friday (Mar 4).
Dr Koh said that there are segments of the workforce that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) was more concerned about even before COVID-19, and they have been disproportionally affected by the pandemic.
“We will press on with tackling three structural issues: Vulnerable workers who might need additional support in the hiring process, mature workers who might need help transiting to new job roles, and outreach to jobseekers requiring career matching services,” he said.
Dr Koh said that to address the issue of vulnerable workers who need additional support in the hiring process, MOM will extend the JGI.
It will now only apply to mature workers aged 40 and above who have unemployed for at least six months, people with disabilities and ex-offenders. Support levels will also be tapered down “in line with improving conditions”.
For each new local hire, eligible firms will be subsidised 40 per cent of the worker’s salary, up to S$6,000, for the first six months.
For the next six months, they get 20 per cent of first S$6,000 of the gross monthly salary. This adds up to a total incentive of S$21,600 for each local hire.
This is scaled down from current payouts of 50 per cent for the first S$6,000 in salary for up to 12 months.
For workers younger than 40, or mature workers who are not long-term unemployed, there will no longer be JGI subsidies.
The JGI was introduced in September 2020 to support employers to expand local hiring. It has been extended twice to March 2022.
MOM said that close to 509,000 locals were hired into new jobs by 67,000 businesses from September 2020 to August 2021. Of these, about half were mature workers, said Dr Koh.
For firms to be eligible for the JGI, they must have more local workers overall and an expansion in local workforce size earning at least S$1,400 a month, compared to March 2022.
SG UNITED JOBS AND SKILLS PACKAGE
It was also announced at Budget 2022 that the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme will become a permanent career matching programmefor mature jobseekers.
MOM will maintain training allowances of up to S$3,800 per month, and reduce government funding from 90 per cent to 70 per cent. Host organisations will co-fund 30 per cent of the allowance to jobseekers.
It will discontinue the SGUnited Traineeships, which were mainly for fresh graduates and younger workers.
Said Dr Koh: "The SGUnited Traineeship programme was introduced amidst a weak labour market to provide fresh graduates with traineeship opportunities to acquire industry-relevant experience and build up their skillsets and networks.
"With the economy recovering, fewer graduates are participating in the scheme. Current trainees will be supported to the end of their traineeships."
In addition, SGUnited Jobs and Skills Centres in all 24 Housing Board towns will be retained and added to the network of career centres run by Workforce Singapore and the National Trades Union Congress’ (NTUC) Employment and Employability Institute (e2i).
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