On 21 June 2022, the Ministry of Manpower announced a further extension for the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) Scheme for an additional six months, till March 2023. The scheme aims to provide support to employers to hire mature job seekers who have not been working for at least six months, and persons with disabilities and ex-offenders.
The extension was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong during a press conference as part of an S$1.5 billion support package aimed at providing “immediate and targeted relief” for the lower income and vulnerable groups in Singapore, by supporting local firms in this time of challenging global growth and inflationary environment.
Extension of Qualifying Period from September 2022 to March 2023
Phase 1 |
- Qualifying Period - New local employees hired from September 2020 to February 2021
- Non-mature hires - Wage support of up to 25% of the first $5,000 for 12 months
- Mature, PWDs, ex-offenders hires - Wage support of up to 50% of the first $5,000 for gross monthly wages paid in September 2020 from 2021. For gross monthly wages paid from March 2021 onwards, there will be a wage support of up to 50% of the first $6,000, totalling 18 months of wage support
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Phase 2 |
- Qualifying Period-New local employees hired from March 2021 to September 2021
- Non-mature hires-Wage support of up to 25% of the first $5,000 for 12 months
- Mature, PwDs, ex-offenders hires - Wage support of up to 50% of the first $6,000 for 18 months
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Phase 3 |
- Qualifying Period - New local employees hired from October 2021 to March 2022
- Non-mature hires - Wage support of up to 15% of the first $5,000 for 6 months
- Mature, PwDs, ex-offenders hires - Wage support of up to 50% of the first $6,000 for 12 months
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Phase 4 |
- Qualifying Period - New local employees hired from April 2022 to September 2022
- Non-mature hires - Not applicable
- Mature, PwDs, ex-offenders hires-Wage support of up to 40% of first $6,000 for the first 6 months and up to 20% of first $6,000 for next 6 months
Applicable only to mature hires not in work for at least six months, PwDs and ex-offenders
Extension of Qualifying Period from September 2022 to March 2023 |
Additionally, two other schemes announced were the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme and a new Energy Efficiency Grant aimed at helping businesses cope with rising costs and co-funding investments in more energy-efficient equipment respectively.
The Progressive Wage Credit Scheme will see an increase from 50 per cent to 75 per cent for resident employees with gross monthly wages up to S$2500. For wages above S$2500 and up to S$3000, co-funding will raised raised from 30 per cent to 45 per cent.
The new Energy Efficiency Grant will provide local small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food services, food manufacturing and retail sectors with up to 70 per cent support capped at $30,000 per company to adopt energy efficient equipment in pre-approved categories.
For more information, please refer to IRAS’s website: https://www.iras.gov.sg/schemes/disbursement-schemes/jobs-growth-incentive