More Than 60% of Workers Under JGI Did Not See a Fall in Salaries; About 30% Were Previously Unemployed

By
Ashley Seek
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Over the course of the last year, the government introduced many schemes to help people financially during COVID-19.

Among these, the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act was rolled out to help assist in contractual relief.

You can find out more details on that and various frameworks here.

Today, we look at another scheme, the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) and the impact on workers under it.

More Than 60% of Workers Under JGI Did Not See a Fall in Salaries; About 30% Were Previously Unemployed

And the results seem pretty good.

Roughly 60% of the workers under this scheme did not experience a drop in salary, The Straits Times reported.

What the JGI does is basically encourage employers to increase their overall local workforce. Those who do will receive government support.

The first qualifying window started in Sept 2020 and ended in Feb 2021, and Phase 2 from March 2021 to Sept 2021.

To be eligible, you must meet the following requirements:

  • An increase in overall local workforce size
  • Increase in local workforce size earning ≥$1,400/month
  • This is compared to the August 2020 local workforce for Phase 1, or February 2021 for Phase 2

On Wednesday (3 Mar), Manpower Minister Josephine Teo noted 30% of those under JGI were previously unemployed.

“Without JGI lubricating the process, the movement of workers into growing firms and industries will likely be slower.”

In fact, within two months after its introduction, the JGI had already helped 110,000 new local hires, or about 5% of the workforce. Half of them were above 40-years-old.

Providing Help Amidst Recovering Job Market

Complete recovery of the economy would take time, considering the damage COVID-19 has done.

However, the government aims to shore up hiring demand for employers and help workers seize better opportunities.

As such, SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package have been allocated another S$5.4 billion.

Through the JGI, which is part of this package, this would support the hiring of 200,000 locals, and also provide 35,000 training-related programmes this year.

To complement this, SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways and the SGUnited Traineeships will extend to March 2022.

For mature workers under this programme, they can receive a larger monthly training allowance of up to $3,800.

This was increased from $3,000 and will take place from 1 April.

But what about those who have just graduated?

Helping Fresh Graduates

The short answer is there’s a lot of help.

Firstly, their SGUnited Traineeships programme will be extended. This would help fresh or those soon-to-graduate to upgrade their skills even more.

Host organisations can then be spoilt for choice with the wider talent pool.

In fact, from 1 April, ITE and polytechnic graduates under the programme will have their training allowance raised.

  • ITE graduates: Allowance increase of up to 30%, up to $1,800
  • Polytechnic graduates: Allowance increase of 20%, up to $2,100
  • University graduates: Allowances will remain the same

Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang said it would help graduates struggling to find a job.

Each traineeship has also been shortened from nine to six months. Companies cannot take the same trainee for a second round as well.

Mrs Teo said that all of these schemes help supplemented ones that already existed, like the Workforce Singapore’s professional conversion programmes (PCP).

Which, by the way, saw 90% of those in the programme still employed after 18 months. 70% even earned more than previously.

“The COVID-19 pandemic did not just test the resilience of our workforce. Tripartism was also tested, and we are emerging stronger.”

Featured Image: joyfull / Shutterstock.com

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Ashley Seek
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