Photo taken during a visit to Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa before the announcement of the Unity Budget, 1 February 2020.
By Ian Tan Hanhonn
The Government has announced its plan to continue to protect livelihoods, create job opportunities and provide support to workers in both the current and post-COVID-19 environment.
Some of the continued support includes an extension of the Jobs Support Scheme, a launch of a new initiative called Jobs Growth Incentive, and an extension of the COVID-19 Support Grant.
The plan – delivered in a live national broadcast on 17 August 2020 by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat – adds on to the series of budgets that have taken place since the beginning of the pandemic, amounting close to $100 billion to date.
In his speech, Mr Heng said the Government will continue to support and create new jobs; provide further support for hardest-hit sectors; re-position Singapore to seize growth opportunities in a post-COVID-19 world.
“Regardless of your circumstances, the Government will help you to rebuild from this crisis,” said Mr Heng.
The continued support will cost $8 billion. Mr Heng added that there are no plans to draw on Past Reserves for these measures, beyond what was approved earlier.
The Jobs Support Scheme, which was first launched at the start of the pandemic, will be extended by seven months, covering wages paid up to March 2021.
Initially covering workers’ wages up to August 2020, the JSS has disbursed some $16 billion worth of payouts, benefiting over two million local workers in over 150,000 firms.
Noting that the JSS is not sustainable at its current levels, Mr Heng said the scheme will be adjusted to support businesses based on their sector’s projected recovery.
“I urge all businesses to make full use of this additional support to retain and upskill your workers, and to transform your operations for the post-COVID-19 world.
“This will enable you to spring back faster when the recovery comes,” said Mr Heng.
On transformation, Mr Heng recapped on the Unity Budget announced in February where the Government set aside $8.3 billion over three years to support its Transformation and Growth strategy.
With it were companies that found new opportunities during the COVID-19 crisis, he added.
One example Mr Heng cited was retailer Decks, an NTUC U SME partner.
“During the Circuit Breaker, it revamped its e-commerce platform and expanded to other e-marketplaces. Its online sales increased tenfold. It is now taking the opportunity to expand and hire more workers even though the retail sector has been hard hit,” said Mr Heng.
He also gave another example – Certact Engineering, a precision engineering company unionised under the Metal Industries Workers’ Union.
“When the pandemic struck, Certact pivoted to manufacturing parts for high demand medical equipment like ventilators. Today, the company is working with the union to upskill its workers,” he said.
The Government will be launching a $1 billion programme to support hiring in growing sectors called the Jobs Growth Incentive. The initiative will encourage firms to increase their headcount of local workers over the next six months.
For eligible businesses, the Government will co-pay up to 25 per cent of salaries of all new local hires for one year, subject to a cap.
For those aged 40 and above, the co-payment will be up to 50 per cent.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will provide more details later this month.
To further aid the flow of workers to new opportunities, Mr Heng encouraged jobseekers to visit one of the 24 SGUnited Jobs and Skills Centres – which has been set up in the heartlands – to find a suitable job, traineeship, attachment or training.
The Government will look to scale-up the temporary redeployment programme to help create jobs for workers whose livelihoods have been impacted, especially those in the aviation industry.
According to Mr Heng, the Government will create around 4,000 new jobs, including permanent roles, in the healthcare sector. It will also look to create more jobs in other areas.
Even with the Government’s best efforts, Mr Heng said retrenchments will be inevitable.
The Government will continue to work closely with tripartite partners to help displaced workers.
It will update the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower and Fair Retrenchment to incorporate the Fair Retrenchment Framework proposed by NTUC.
Mr Heng said he will also extend the COVID-19 Support Grant to help Singaporeans who are unemployed or have suffered significant income loss due to the pandemic.
The grant will be extended to December 2020.
To help low-wage workers tide through these times, the Government will be widening the eligibility of the $3,000 Workfare Special Payment.
Currently eligible for those on the Workfare Income Supplement scheme for work done in 2019, the scheme will be extended to include workers who were not on Workfare last year but have received or will be receiving Workfare for work done this year.
Mr Heng said: “As our Labour Movement puts it, we cannot protect every job, but we will protect every worker.
“For those of you who have fallen on hard times, we will continue to support you and walk this journey with you.”
NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Desmond Choo welcomed the extension of the JSS, stating that employers in hard-hit sectors such as aerospace and tourism are still struggling, and facing challenges in retaining workers.
“The JSS extension is a timely response from the Government to provide relief to companies when it comes to paying for the workers’ wages and keeping them in their jobs,” said Mr Choo.
Meanwhile, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Patrick Tay said he was heartened by the announcement of the Jobs Growth Incentive that will boost the hiring of Singaporean workers in growth sectors, with additional focus on those aged 40 and above.
“This will be another step forward as we continue to ensure that Singaporeans have access to good jobs and go in some way towards developing and strengthening our Singaporean core,” said Mr Tay.
NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng welcomed the Government’s move to update the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment, stating it “will mean better protection of our workers’ rights and ensure fair treatment of affected workers.”
The labour chief added that NTUC will continue to work closely with its tripartite partners to protect the Singaporean core, preserve jobs as well as provide care and assistance support.
