Finance minister Heng Swee Keat today announced a $ 55 billion resilience budget, some of which will go into Singapore's reserves to help the country survive these challenging times.
Over a third of the budget goes to saving jobs, supporting workers and protecting livelihoods.
Here are the new measures to support workers in Singapore:
10,000 new jobs by 2021
With new graduates entering the workforce with concerns about finding a job, the government plans to create 10,000 new jobs next year.
Many of these new jobs will come from the public sector and agencies will begin to accelerate the recruitment of long-term positions in areas such as social services, early childhood education and ICT.
Short-term, temporary jobs are also being created to cope with the growth in operations related to Covid-19, such as: B. Health declaration assistants, temporary management support officers, and transport ambassadors.
This goes hand in hand with a new SGUnited traineeship program that is to support up to 8,000 internships this year.
Workforce Singapore (WSG) will share personnel costs with companies that offer internships for local first-time job seekers.
Do not co-finance 25% of wages
"The best way to support our people is to help them stay busy," said Minister Heng.
To ensure that employers can continue to employ their workers, the government provides $ 15.1 billion for the employment promotion program.
As a result, government co-financing of wages for all local workers will increase from 8 to 25 percent.
Additional support will be provided to the most affected sectors. Food services companies receive 50 percent co-financing, while aviation and tourism receive 75 percent.
The qualifying wage cap will also be raised from $ 3,600 to $ 4,600 and the system will be extended for another two quarters until the end of 2020.
Income relief for the self-employed
A $ 1.2 billion fund will be made available to the self-employed who have “less resources and family support”.
You will receive support of $ 1,000 per month through the Self-help Income Relief Program for nine months.
In addition, the self-employed can also benefit from increased hourly training grants.
Your hourly training allowances will increase from $ 7.50 to $ 10 from May to December.
Help for laid-off low and middle income workers
To be prepared for some workers to lose their jobs if the effects of Covid-19 deepen, the government will support low- and middle-income workers who are fired.
From May to September, they receive $ 800 per month over a three-month period to help them find new jobs or start a new job.
The beneficiaries must have a household income of less than S $ 3,100 per month or live in a property with an annual value of less than S $ 21,000.
Singaporeans who have more pressing financial needs can benefit from the Temporary Relief Fund through SSOs and community centers from April 1st.
Early $ 500 SkillsFuture Top-Up
In the February 2020 budget speech, a one-off $ 500 SkillsFuture increase was announced for all Singaporeans aged 25 and over.
It will evolve from its original release in October so that Singaporeans can use it earlier from April.
"I hope this will help many more workers, jobseekers and the self-employed to use downtime to learn, develop new skills and stay employable," said Minister Heng.
Support for consumer industries
Employees in consumer-facing roles are seriously affected as companies are affected during the Covid 19 pandemic.
As mentioned above, F&B companies receive 50 percent of wage co-financing to employ their workers.
Taxi and private rental companies benefit from an additional $ 95 million fund to improve the point-to-point support package.
Eligible drivers will receive an additional $ 300 per vehicle per month through September.
Private bus owners also receive a one-year road tax rebate to facilitate cash flow.
Selected image source: HR In Asia
