Budget 2023: New ‘jobs-skills integrators’ to help employers enhance training, placement of workers
Support measures for employers who hire senior workers, lower-wage workers, people with disabilities and ex-offenders were also rolled out at Budget 2023.
SINGAPORE: Employers will soon have a new resource to tap on to ensure better training and placement of workers in their industries.
This new entity, known as jobs-skills integrators, will be appointed and equipped as “labour market intermediaries” who can work with industry, training and employment facilitation partners to optimise training and job placement, announced Finance Minister Lawrence Wong on Tuesday (Feb 14).
Delivering his Budget speech in Parliament, Mr Wong said these integrators can be existing institutions, but they will have new responsibilities and outcomes to deliver.
“For example, the jobs-skills integrators will have to engage enterprises to understand the manpower and skills gap in the industry,” shared Mr Wong, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister.
“They will have to work with training providers to update existing training programmes or develop new ones that will close the skills gap.”
These integrators will also have to work closely with employment facilitation agencies, get buy-in from industry partners and unions, and identify individuals with the right aptitude and fit for training, added Mr Wong.
“Most importantly, they must ensure that training translates into better employment and earnings prospects.”
The jobs-skills integrators will be piloted in the precision engineering, retail and wholesale trade sectors, where there are “higher concentrations of mature workers and SMEs (small and medium enterprises)”.
More details will be shared at the Ministry of Education’s upcoming Committee of Supply (COS) debate.
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SUPPORT FOR SENIORS WHO WISH TO CONTINUE WORKING
Other measures were also rolled out at Budget 2023 on Tuesday to support employers in hiring certain demographics.
To support seniors who wish to continue working, the Senior Employment Credit will be extended till 2025 to continue providing wage offsets to employers who hire such employees, said Mr Wong.
The Senior Employment Credit, which was first announced at the Unity Budget 2020, took effect from Jan 1, 2021 to Dec 31, 2022. During this period, employers received up to 8 per cent of the wages paid to Singaporean workers aged 55 and above, depending on the workers’ age and wage.
The wage offset applies to such workers earning below S$4,000 per month, with more support given to employers for higher age bands.
Additionally, the Part-time Re-employment Grant will also be extended until 2025 to encourage employers to “offer part-time re-employment, other flexible work arrangements and structured career planning to senior workers”, added Mr Wong.
Applications for the grant had ended on Dec 31, 2022.
These measures will bolster other existing moves, such as raising the retirement and re-employment ages, to support senior workers and their employers.
More details on these measures will be shared at the Ministry of Manpower’s upcoming COS debate.
BETTER PROGRESSION, PAY FOR LOWER-WAGE WORKERS
Mr Wong also announced that the Government would maintain the Government’s increased co-funding share for the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme (PWCS).
In June 2022, the PWCS was enhanced by increasing the Government’s co-funding share from 50 to 75 per cent for employees with gross monthly wages of up to S$2,500 in qualifying year 2022. The payout period was in the first quarter of 2023.
The co-funding share had also been increased from 30 to 45 per cent for employees with gross monthly wages above S$2,500 and up to S$3,000 in qualifying year 2022, with the same payout period.
The announcements on Tuesday mean that the Government will in the first quarter of 2024 continue its co-funding share for these same groups of workers in qualifying year 2023.
The increased co-funding share was originally only meant for the qualifying year of 2022.
For this purpose, the PWCS fund will also receive a top up of S$2.4 billion, said Mr Wong.
The PWCS, first introduced in last year’s Budget, was aimed at providing “transitional support” from 2022 to 2026 for employers to adjust to the Progressive Wage moves, and to encourage employers to “voluntarily raise” the wages of their lower-wage employees, stated a factsheet from the Ministry of Finance issued on Tuesday.
Last year, the Government expanded the Progressive Wage Model to more sectors and occupations, and required companies that employ foreign workers to pay all local workers at least the Local Qualifying Salary, added Mr Wong.
These measures, together with the Budget announcements, cover the "vast majority of lower-wage workers" and will "help to uplift their wages".
SUPPORT TO HIRE PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, EX-OFFENDERS
To support employers in hiring people with disabilities, the Government will enhance the Enabling Employment Credit to cover a larger proportion of wages and a longer duration for these workers who have not been working for at least six months.
The Enabling Employment Credit is currently paid to employers of Singaporeans with disabilities aged 13 and older, earning below S$4,000 per month.
The employer gets 20 per cent of each eligible employee’s monthly income, capped at a maximum of S$400 per month per employee. There is no cap on the total number of eligible employees.
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Employers receive an additional 10 per cent wage offset, capped at S$200 per month per employee, for the first six months of employment, if they hire a person with disability for a job paying less than S$4,000 per month and if this worker has not been working for the past six months before being hired.
“We know many persons with disabilities want to work, and if given the chance, have valuable skills to offer. As a society, we should give them the opportunity to do so,” said Mr Wong.
Firms can also look forward to a “time-limited” wage offset if they employ ex-offenders.
More details on this new Uplifting Employment Credit will be shared at the Ministry of Manpower’s upcoming COS debate. The outcomes of this scheme will be reviewed in 2025.
Mr Wong highlighted that financial incentives are ultimately just “one way we support people with disabilities and ex-offenders”.
“We also need dedicated efforts on the ground, through organisations like SG Enable, Yellow Ribbon Singapore, and their community partners, as well as close cooperation with employers to provide meaningful job opportunities for people with disabilities and ex-offenders,” he added.