Fortitude Budget Simplified for Individuals: No Cash But a $100 Wavier in Utility Bills & 100,000 Jobs / Opportunities Available

Let’s face it: individuals like us who still hold a job with a stable income (so far) are only looking forward to one thing from the Fortitude Budget: are we getting any ang bao from the authorities?

After all, we’re affected leh; our electricity bills have spiked up due to working from home.

Well, your wish is granted.

$100 Wavier in Utility Bills for All Property Types

For the month of July or August, all households with at least one Singapore citizen will receive a one-off Solidarity Utilities Credit of $100 that will be credited in July 2020 or August 2020.

This includes all properties—even if you live in a mansion whereby $100 utility amount is just used to keep your pond warm.

The idea behind this is to thank you for staying home during the Circuit Breaker period.

And because you just complained about your electricity bills…that’s about it for the Fortitude Budget if you’re an individual.

However.

If you somehow lose your job soon, you’d be glad to know that the support that’s announced in earlier budgets are still available. You can still get $800 a month for three months.

In addition, 100,000 job and training opportunities will be waiting for you if you ever receive that retrenchment letter from your boss.

Known as the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package, it’ll comprise 40,000 jobs, 25,000 traineeships and 30,000 skills training opportunities.

40,000 Jobs

You’d have known about temporary jobs like swabbers and safe-distancing ambassadors—these jobs are part of this “package”, and are considered “new jobs” in this context.

The Government will also create 15,000 of such “new jobs”, which now also include long-term ones like early childhood education and healthcare.

They will then work with businesses to come out with an additional 25,000 jobs, making it a total of 40,000 jobs.

But what if you somehow prefer to attend training while getting paid instead?

25,000 Traineeships

The Government will create 25,000 traineeship positions this year, which is ideal for new graduates. They will fund the training allowances with companies that will pay you allowances while you undergo training.

Just think of it as internship lah.

30,000 Skills Training Programmes

If you prefer to learn some new skills instead of working or being mentored, then the SGUnited Skills programme is there for you.

Other than being living like a student again, you’d also get $1,200 allowance a month.

So as an individual, you won’t get money but there are opportunities to work for money.

Reader Bao: Then why is this still called a Budget?

We really can’t please everyone.

You can read about what the authorities are doing to help businesses here.