Jobs Growth Incentive supported hiring of 130,000 locals over three months

A TOTAL of 130,000 locals were hired from September to November with support from the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) scheme, according to the 20th edition of the jobs situation report released on Wednesday (see amendment note).

The latest figures suggest a slowing pace of hiring. Previously, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) had announced that 110,000 locals were hired for the period from September to October.

This was "to be expected", said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo during a visit to Pacific Logistics Group - an employer that has taken on new hires with support from the JGI, to expand in areas such as food logistics and process innovation.

"In the first month of the scheme, and probably even the second month, we were supporting a lot of businesses who are doing back-filling," said Mrs Teo. "They had to let go of people during the 'circuit breaker', and were about to restart. Naturally, they expanded their hiring in a short period of time."

Mrs Teo added that in the early stages employers were likely to have been less stringent in their hiring demands. They also had a larger pool of jobseekers to draw from, with a higher readiness to enter the workforce. "We had always expected that beyond the first few months, it is likely for the pace to moderate."

Nearly all (99 per cent) of the 27,000 employers supported by the scheme over the three-month period were small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). They hired a median of two locals each, which is higher than the median of one local hire in the same period the year before.

Food services remained the top hiring sector, accounting for about 21,400 of locals hired. The other top sectors were wholesale trade (10,700), professional services (9,400), retail (7,800), and information and communications (7,400).

Close to half of the JGI-supported hires were aged 40 and above, with one-third aged 50 and above. Six in 10 earned the same or higher wages in their new jobs.

About half of them were not employed at the point of hire, and over a quarter had been out of work for more than six months. Asked why workers with existing jobs were also eligible for salary support, Mrs Teo said the economic situation last year was such that jobseekers had taken up short-term positions or positions that were below their expectations.

The government is therefore supporting employers in the hiring of workers who are already employed as well as those without jobs.

Launched in August 2020, the JGI offers eligible employers salary support to expand local hiring. In this year's Budget, the scheme was expanded to include persons with disabilities and ex-offenders. It was also extended until September 2021.

Under the enhanced JGI, the government pays 25 per cent of new employees' wages - with a cap of S$5,000 in gross monthly wages - for 12 months. This means a co-payment of up to S$1,250 a month for a total of S$15,000.

For new employees aged 40 and above, persons with disabilities, and ex-offenders, the government pays 50 per cent of wages for 18 months. The salary cap is also higher, at S$6,000. This works out to as much as S$3,000 a month and a total of S$54,000 over 18 months.

Amendment note: An earlier version of this story said the jobs update was released on Tuesday. It was in fact released on Wednesday.