Over 60% employed underJobs Growth Incentive scheme did not earn less: Minister, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
Singapore

Over 60% employed underJobs Growth Incentive scheme did not earn less: Minister

This article is more than 12 months old

Extending scheme by seven months among three priorities to help workers and businesses: Josephine Teo

More than six out of 10 people hired under the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI), which encourages employers to bring forward the hiring of local workers through wage subsidies, did not experience a drop in pay.

In addition, about three in 10 of the JGI hires were previously unemployed, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo yesterday, adding that the "majority had been out of work for more than six months".

Giving this update during the debate on the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) budget, Mrs Teo stressed that the JGI - which will be extended by seven months to the end of September - is one strategy taken by the Government to ensure local workers remain employable.

"Without JGI lubricating the process, the movement of workers into growing firms and industries will likely be slower," she noted.

PRIORITY

The JGI extension falls under MOM's priority of shoring up the hiring of local workers in the short term.

Mrs Teo also laid out her ministry's two other priorities this year: helping every segment of the workforce emerge stronger and supporting business transformation.

"Digitalisation, remote work, widening income gaps and an ageing workforce will continue to challenge us," she said.

Within two months of the JGI's implementation last September, it had supported more than 110,000 new local hires, or about 5 per cent of the workforce. About half of the new hires were aged 40 and above, said Mrs Teo.

The extended JGI will give companies hiring eligible local workers up to 12 months of wage support from the month of hire.

Those taking on mature workers aged 40 and above, people with disabilities and ex-offenders will receive up to 18 months of enhanced wage support.

The JGI comes under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package launched last year to tackle the anticipated labour market fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The package is being revved up with an additional $5.4 billion to support the hiring of 200,000 local workers through the JGI, and provide 35,000 traineeships, attachments and training opportunities this year.

Other components of the package - such as the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways and the SGUnited Traineeships programmes - will be extended till the end of next March.

SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways allows mid-career job seekers to gain in-demand skills and widen their professional networks while waiting for permanent jobs.

From April 1, mature workers under this programme can receive a higher monthly training allowance of up to $3,800, compared with $3,000 previously. The government co-funding of this allowance will also be raised from 80 per cent to 90 per cent for host organisations.

SGUnited Traineeships provides recent graduates or those who will soon graduate with opportunities to gain industry-relevant work experience amid weaker hiring sentiments.

Starting from April 1, the training allowances for Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and polytechnic graduates under the traineeships programme will be raised, said Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang.

The allowance for ITE graduates will increase by about 30 per cent, up to a maximum of $1,800, while that for polytechnic graduates will go up by about 20 per cent, up to a maximum of $2,100. The allowance for university graduates will remain unchanged.

The maximum duration of each traineeship will be shortened from nine to six months. Companies will not be allowed to take on the same trainee for a second traineeship.

Mrs Teo said these initiatives come on top of longstanding schemes like Workforce Singapore's professional conversion programmes (PCPs), which have seen good outcomes.

About 90 per cent of PCP participants remained employed after 18 months, she said, and about seven in 10 earned more than their last-drawn salaries.

Mrs Teo emphasised the importance of tripartism, saying that the labour movement helped workers stay employed, while employers that had to downsize sought to preserve a strong Singaporean core amid Covid-19.

"Tripartism was also tested (amid Covid-19) and we are emerging stronger," she said.

This article first appeared in The Straits Times.

FOR MORE, SEE Raising retirement, re-employment ages to proceed next year as planned: Minister AND Progressive wage model set to expand and cover up to 218,000 workers 

Employment