The Government has set aside $1 billion to support businesses to hire locals under the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) scheme.

Eligible firms will not need to apply, and the JGI payouts will start from March, 2021 onwards. These payouts will be automatically computed each month based on their CPF contributions.

The eligibility criteria has also been simplified.

So who is eligible?

"To be eligible for the JGI, firms must have achieved an increase in their local workforce in the period from September 2020 till the end of February 2021, compared to the size of their local workforce in August 2020.

The increase in local workforce must be accompanied by an increase in jobs that pay at least $1,400 in gross monthly wages. Firms must have been established on or before 16 August 2020."

So basically your workforce must have more locals by February 2021, than the local workforce of your company in August, 2020.

Previously the requirement was to look at the local workforce of a company from Jan. to Aug. 2020, but now the authorities will just look at the number of locals employed in Aug. 2020.

More support for mature hires

For eligible firms, the Government will provide "substantial salary support" for all new local hires at all wage levels, with higher support for mature hires.

For each new local hire aged below 40, the Government will co-pay 25 per cent of the first $5,000 of gross monthly wages for 12 months from the month of hire.

For each new mature local hire aged 40 and above, Government support is doubled to 50 per cent. In total, eligible firms can receive up to $15,000 for each local hire aged below 40, and $30,000 for each local hire aged 40 and above.

To receive the full amount of support, firms must continue to meet the eligibility criteria for the 12-month period. The JGI payments will be over and above the JSS payments that the firm will receive for all its local employees.

Simplified requirement

The JGI payout will be reduced if any person under the firm’s employment as at August 2020 leaves the firm after August 2020. This is to discourage retrenchment.

This reduction will be "computed based on the ratio of existing employees who have left the employer to the total number of existing employees as at August 2020", or 5%, whichever is higher.

The Enhanced Hiring Incentive will therefore be replaced by the JGI with effect from September 1, 2020.

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