The Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) will be extended by a further six months to September 2022 for companies hiring vulnerable workers, confirmed Senior Minister of State for Manpower Koh Poh Koon on 4 March 2022.
The announcement was first made by Finance Minister Lawrence Wong in his Budget speech on 18 February 2022.
The worker groups include mature workers above 40 who have been unemployed for at least six months, persons with disabilities and ex-offenders.
Speaking at the Ministry of Manpower’s Committee of Supply, Dr Koh said these vulnerable workers had been disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and would require additional support during the hiring process.
The JGI was introduced in September 2020 to support employers expand local hiring. The qualifying window of the JGI had been extended twice to March 2022 since it was first introduced.
Dr Koh added that support levels will be tapered in line with improving employment conditions.
Employers that meet the JGI eligibility criteria will receive a 40 per cent subsidy of their new local hire’s salary, up to $6,000, for the first six months.
For the subsequent six months, employers will receive a 20 per cent subsidy of the local hire’s salary, up to $6,000.
The total incentive an eligible employer can tap on adds up to $21,600 per local hire.
Dr Koh added that among the close to 509,000 local hires supported through the JGI from September 2020 to August 2021, about half were mature workers.
However, there are some mature jobseekers who continue to face difficulties in finding permanent jobs, he added.
“We will press on with tackling three structural issues – vulnerable workers who might need additional support in the hiring process, mature workers who might need help transiting to new job roles, and outreach to jobseekers requiring career matching services,” said Dr Koh.
In his Budget Debate speech on 1 March 2022, NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Chee Hong Tat said he was heartened by the extension of the JGI for vulnerable workers.
"Together with our partners, NTUC will expand our services to help even more vulnerable workers through training and job placement. The number of vulnerable workers may be a small proportion of our overall workforce, but this is a meaningful area for the tripartite partners to focus on," he said.
In his Budget speech, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong also announced that the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme will become a permanent career matching programme to support mature jobseekers.
Touching on this, Dr Koh said: “Some mature workers who may continue to face challenges in finding permanent jobs may already have years of experience and would only require some training to take on their intended roles … [SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme] will complement the deeper re-skilling provided by our existing Career Conversion Programmes.”
Mature trainees will continue to receive training allowances of up to $3,800 as part of the programme. However, the Government will scale back funding from 90 per cent to 70 per cent, given the recovery of the labour market.
The other 30 per cent of the training allowance will be co-funded by host organisations.
Meanwhile, Dr Koh said that MOM will not extend the SGUnited Traineeships after it expires in March 2022. The initiative was targeted at young workers and fresh graduates.
“The SGUnited Traineeship programme was introduced amidst a weak labour market to provide fresh graduates with traineeship opportunities to acquire industry-relevant experience and build up their skillsets and networks. With the economy recovering, fewer graduates are participating in the scheme,” said Dr Koh.
He added that current trainees will be supported to the end of their traineeships.
