Fortitude Budget: More incentives to support employers to hire workers

The Government will ramp up hiring incentives to employers to support them in hiring workers who have gone through eligible traineeship and training schemes, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said yesterday.

For one, the hiring incentive that was first introduced under the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Support Package in the Unity Budget will now be expanded to cover workers of all ages.

This means that for eligible workers under 40, the incentive will cover 20 per cent of their monthly salary for six months, capped at $6,000.

For eligible workers aged 40 and above, the hiring incentive will be doubled to cover 40 per cent of their salary over six months, capped at $12,000.

Mr Heng said: "Ultimately, our traineeships and skills training are to help our people to secure jobs.

"In these uncertain times, I understand why many employers, even if they are doing well, are reluctant to hire."

As such, the enhanced hiring incentive is thus meant to encourage employers to hire local workers and to help individuals secure jobs.

It is one of the components of the new SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package announced yesterday, as part of the Fortitude Budget.

Mr Heng said the Government is providing "specially enhanced support" for jobs and training for older workers, including other support such as the special SkillsFuture Credit top-up of $500 to every Singaporean aged 40 to 60 this year.

He added that he is greatly encouraged at how tripartite partners are working together to provide strong support to these initiatives, and how some employers have also stepped forward to offer jobs and traineeships.

"This not only contributes to the national effort, but is also a far-sighted move to build longer-term capabilities for their companies," said Mr Heng, who encouraged companies to make use of the support provided to emerge stronger after this downtime.

Ms Linda Teo, country manager of ManpowerGroup Singapore, said the hiring incentives would definitely help to cushion costs, especially in this climate where companies tend to avoid hiring additional headcount to hold on to as much capital as possible.