Committee of Supply highlights 2020

Providing fair opportunities

Empower mid-career workers to take charge of their careers

SkillsFuture Mid-Career Support Package

Provide support for mid-career workers in their 40s and 50s by helping them stay employable and moving on to new jobs or new roles.

• Ramp up government reskilling programmes significantly, including enhanced salary support for mid-career rank-and-file workers during training period.
• Introduce hiring incentive for employers to hire and reskill jobseekers aged 40 and above through reskilling programmes.
• Provide additional $500 SkillsFuture Credit top-up for Singaporeans aged 40-60, on top of $500 SkillsFuture Credit top-up for eligible Singapore Citizens.
• Build a pool of volunteer Career Advisors from professional communities to provide career guidance and peer-level support.

Factsheet on hiring incentive
Factsheet on Career Advisors initiative

Support employers to redesign jobs

Support for Job Redesign under Productivity Solutions Grant

Provide more support to employers to redesign jobs to meet business transformation needs and make jobs more productive and attractive for employees.

• Support up to 70% of cost for employers to engage pre-approved job redesign consultants, capped at $30,000 per enterprise.
• Provide up to $10,000 of SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit to defray 90% out-of-pocket cost.

Factsheet on Support for Job Redesign under Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG-JR)

Enhancements to Adapt and Grow (A&G) initiative under the Stabilisation and Support Package

• $2.4 billion (60%) of the Stabilisation and Support Package (announced at Budget 2020) will go towards the following economy-wide measures for workers:
  
  • Jobs Support Scheme: help companies retain local employees
  • Enhancement to Wage Credit Scheme: support companies to transform and share productivity gains with workers
• Support for sectors more directly impacted by COVID-19 (e.g. hotel, retail, food services, tourism, air transport):
  
  • Funding support extended from 3 months to a maximum of 6 months:
    • Job Redesign Place-and-Train (PnT) Programme for Hotel Industry
    • Job Redesign PnT Programme for Retail
  • New programmes to support redeployment:
    • Job Redesign Pnt Programme for Food Services Industry
    • Digital Marketing PnT Programme
    • Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) for Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE), Attractions and Tour and Travel
    • PCP for Digital Operations Talents for Furniture Industry
    • PnT Programme for Air Transport Coordinators

Ensuring fair hiring

Strengthening the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF)

• About 1,000 firms scrutinised under the FCF.
  
  • Since 2016, 3,000 EP applications have not been granted approval and more than 4,400 Singaporean PMETs have been hired instead.
• Raise salary threshold for exemption from the FCF job advertising requirement from $15,000 to $20,000, from 1 May 2020.

Ensuring fair competition

Maintaining effectiveness of foreign workforce controls

• Raise Local Qualifying Salary threshold from $1,300 to $1,400, from 1 July 2020. The threshold determines the number of locals that count towards a firm’s quota to hire S Pass and Work Permit holders.
• Raise Employment Pass minimum qualifying salary from $3,600 to $3,900. The qualifying salaries for older and more experienced EP candidates will also be raised in tandem, from 1 May 2020.

Factsheet on Foreign Workforce Policy Announcements

Providing fair support

Supporting employers to hire and retain senior workers through the Senior Worker Support Package comprising:

• Senior Employment Credit
  Provide wage offsets to hire Singaporean workers aged 55 and above, and earning up to $4,000/month.
• CPF Transition Offset
  Provide wage offsets to hire Singaporean and PR workers aged above 55 to 70, equivalent to half of the increase in employer CPF contribution rates in 2022.
• Senior Worker Early Adopter Grant
  Provide funding support to employers who raise both their retirement and re-employment ages above minimum statutory requirements.
• Part-time Re-employment Grant
  Provide funding support to employers who commit to offering part-time re-employment to eligible senior workers who request for it.

Factsheet on Senior Worker Support Package

More support for lower-income workers

Workfare Skills Support Scheme

• Increase incentives for workers to complete WSQ and Academic CET Full Qualifications (FQs) from 1 July 2020.
  
  • Increase Training Commitment Award for FQs from $200 to $500.
  • Increase annual cap for the Training Commitment Award from $400 to $1,000.

Factsheet on Workfare Skills Support (WSS) Scheme

Workcare Grant

• Help companies provide rest areas for outsourced lower-income workers.

Progressive Wage Model (PWM)

• Boost wages and provide clear career progression pathways for escalator maintenance workers, by including them in the existing PWM for lift maintenance workers.

Factsheet on Enabling Inclusive Growth

Helping Singaporeans save for retirement

Matched Retirement Savings Scheme

• Match cash top-ups made to CPF Retirement Account of eligible Singaporeans, aged 55 to 70, up to $600 annually from 2021 to 2025.

Factsheet on Matched Retirement Savings Scheme
FAQs on Matched Retirement Savings Scheme

Matched MediSave contributions in Contribute-As-You-Earn (CAYE) pilot

• Match CAYE contributions made by self-employed persons in 2020, capped at $600.

Enhanced Silver Support Scheme

• Increasing quarterly cash payouts by 20% from January 2021, to help those with less in retirement.
• Expand coverage to an additional 100,000 seniors:
  
  • Expanded criterion for lifetime wages (proxied by total CPF contributions by age 55) – increase from $70,000 to $140,000.
  • Expanded criterion for household monthly income per person – increase from $1,100 to $1,800, with two tiers of payouts.

Strengthening support for an inclusive workforce

Enhanced Open Door Programme (ODP) Training Grant

• Raise course fee subsidies from 90% to 95% for eligible training courses by SG Enable.
• Raise training allowance from $4.50 to $6 per hour.
• Introduce training commitment award of $100 per completed eligible training course.

Factsheet on Enhanced Employment Support for Persons with Disabilities

Enabling Employment Credit

Supporting employers who hire Singaporean persons with disabilities (PWDs) earning below $4,000 a month.

• Provide wage offset of up to 20% of employees’ monthly income, capped at $400 a month.
• Provide additional 10% wage offset for 6 months, capped at $200 a month, for hiring PWDs who have not been working for at least 6 months.

Factsheet on Enabling Employment Credit

Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-Being

• Provide examples of progressive practices that employers can adopt to support their employees’ mental well-being.

Strengthening Work-Life Harmony

In 2019, the Citizens’ Panel on Work-Life Harmony convened to deliberate on new ways to strengthen work-life harmony in Singapore. The Panel, which comprised 55 Singaporeans from all walks of life, submitted 17 recommendations.

The tripartite partners (Government, SNEF and NTUC) support the thrust of Panel’s recommendations by:

• “Making it Easy” – Facilitate adoption of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) and WLH programmes.
• “Making it Known” – Increase recognition for FWAs and WLH initiatives.
• “Making it Accepted” – Shift societal norms through whole-of-society movement.

More information at Citizens’ Panel on Work-Life Harmony.

Factsheet on Tripartite Partners’ Response to Recommendations by Citizens’ Panel on Work-Life Harmony

Supporting better matches between FDWs and employers

Enhanced Online Employment Agency (EA) Directory

• Improving the FDW hiring process for prospective employers who can now:
  • Shortlist EAs based on employers’ ratings of service quality and list of key niche services provided (e.g. FDWs trained in elder care).
  • View EAs’ policies on FDW replacement and placement loan refund.