Singapore’s Jobs Credit Scheme to be extended for 6 months on stepped-down rate

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Singapore’s Jobs Credit Scheme to be extended for 6 months on stepped-down rate; 1st payment in January 2010 based on 6% of workers’ salary, 2nd payment in April on 3% of salary
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SINGAPORE: The Singapore government has announced that it will extend the year-long Jobs Credit Scheme, which was supposed to end in December, by [...]

Jobs credit to be paid in June

THE second of four payments under the Jobs Credit scheme goes out at the end of this month to more than 100,000 employers who have some 1.4 million local workers on their payroll.
This tranche amounts to some $900 million.
Under the Jobs Credit scheme, the Government gives employers funds for every resident worker on their [...]

Wage subsidy ‘working well’

CHIEF executives at a dialogue yesterday gave the thumbs-up to the $4.5 billion Jobs Credit scheme, saying the wage subsidy payout helped them avert layoffs in this recession.
The exuberant response from 25 CEOs cheered Education Minister Ng Eng Hen, who had sought their feedback during a panel discussion at a breakfast dialogue.
Other panellists included [...]

Jobs Credit ’strategic’

It would achieve more than a CPF cut, and enhance tripartite trust
By Goh Chin Lian, Senior Political Correspondent
LABOUR chief Lim Swee Say yesterday rebutted criticisms that the Government should have cut the employers’ Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution rate instead of having the Jobs Credit wage support scheme as a way to save jobs.
The latter [...]

Singapore: 4,300 jobs to go in Q1

Electronics sector will bear brunt but there is a glimmer of hope: NTUC deputy sec-gen
MORE unionised workers will lose their jobs in the first three months of this year than originally estimated: The number is now expected to hit 4,300.
The figure is much higher than labour chief Lim Swee Say’s estimate of 3,700, made [...]

Jobs Credit and Spur already helping workers, firms weather downturn

FOR more than a week, the announcements kept coming as the ministries rolled out their plans and proposals for this year and the years ahead. On Friday, it was slightly different.
Parliament came full circle as the debate on the Budget and Government expenditure ended on the same note on which it started: Jobs.
But where Members [...]

MOM takes 3-pronged approach to help workers & firms weather downturn

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s Manpower Ministry (MOM) has spelt out a three-pronged strategy to help workers and companies weather the downturn and emerge stronger.
They are helping businesses remain viable, saving jobs and helping the unemployed find work.
Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong also gave details of the one-off Workfare Special Payment announced in the Budget’s Resilience Package.
The [...]

Layoffs have gathered pace after CNY, 3,500 retrenchments expected within unionised sector for first quarter (Update 1)

SINGAPORE should brace itself for record highs in the unemployment rate and job losses this year, given current global trends. But the Government, unions and employers are doing all they can to keep the numbers down, and things would be much worse if not for initiatives like the Jobs Credit scheme, Minister in the Prime [...]

NTUC chief says Jobs Credit scheme saves jobs and workers’ CPF

SINGAPORE: Labour chief Lim Swee Say has defended the government’s Jobs Credit scheme and emphasised that the scheme not only helps save jobs, but it also helps to save workers from having a cut in their Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings rate.
He added that Singapore’s workers have three major concerns now. They are about keeping [...]

Budget 2009 Debate – Jobs credit plan has limits

THE Jobs Credit scheme, which is aimed at helping companies retain workers, has limitations, said West Coast GRC MP Ho Geok Choo in Parliament on Tuesday.
While it helps to keep companies afloat, it does not target firms most likely to lay off workers, she said.
Madam Ho, who called for ‘new thinking and new action’ to [...]