More than half of jobs saved in Singapore are due to Jobs Support Scheme: DPM Heng

SUPPORT measures introduced in response to the coronavirus pandemic have "substantially cushioned" the economic damage, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat.

They will also cushion the increase in the resident unemployment rate by about 1.7 percentage points this year, Mr Heng said in Parliament on Monday.

This could mean about 155,000 jobs saved over these two years, although Singapore will still see job losses overall.

More than half of these jobs saved will be due to the Jobs Support Scheme alone, he added.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has also estimated that the combined Budgets will prevent the economy from contracting by a further 5.6 per cent of gross domestic product in 2020 and 4.8 per cent in 2021.

Singapore's four earlier Budgets committed close to S$100 billion of support measures to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

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These were on top of other measures such as special relief measures for debtors and tenants.