Data on Jobs Support Scheme Beneficiaries

13 Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance whether there are statistics pertaining to the ultimate beneficiaries of the Jobs Support Scheme by (i) income quintile (ii) race (iii) educational status and (iv) gender.

14 Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance to date, what is (i) the total amount of funds disbursed and (ii) the total number of workers benefiting from the Jobs Support Scheme, with a breakdown of both numbers by industry sector.

The Second Minister for Finance (Mr Lawrence Wong) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance): Mr Speaker, the Jobs Support Scheme or JSS provides wage support to employers to help them retain their local employees during this period of economic uncertainty.

Mr Speaker: Minister, are you taking both questions together?

Mr Lawrence Wong: Sorry, Mr Speaker, I am taking Question Nos 13 and 14 together, with your permission.

Mr Speaker: Please proceed.

Mr Lawrence Wong: Thank you. We do not track the detailed breakdown of the profile of JSS beneficiaries as requested by Assoc Prof Lim. But as the JSS is a broad-based scheme to support all local employees across a wide range of businesses, the profile would mirror that of the local workforce in the broader economy.

In terms of industry breakdown, based on the JSS payouts that have been made so far, which cover wages for October 2019 to April 2020, the amount of JSS disbursed to Tier 1 sectors is about $2.2 billion, benefiting 223,000 employees. Tier 1 sectors comprise aviation, aerospace, tourism, hospitality, conventions and exhibitions, and built environment.

For Tier 2 sectors, which comprise arts and culture, marine and offshore, food services, land transport and retail sectors, the total JSS paid out is about $1.9 billion, benefiting 317,000 employees.

For the remaining sectors, the total JSS paid out is about $12.4 billion, benefiting 1.7 million employees.

Mr Speaker: Mr Gerald Giam. Keep it short.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Not all sectors were hard-hit by the COVID-19 crisis. Based on MTI's Economics Survey of Singapore, there were some sectors that actually did grow. It means that these companies in these sectors would have received large JSS payouts despite not needing them or asking for them. On the other hand, many of the residents who have come to me to appeal for CSG and SIRS have received rejections because of their income or the annual value of their homes exceeding by a few hundreds or thousands of dollars.

The Government is so exacting about setting the criteria for individual citizens. Can it apply the same level of rigour to means testing companies before it gives out such large amounts of support?

Can we redirect some of these grants that are given to companies, to individuals now who are really in need of support? This especially so because many of these grants come from draws from our past reserves.

Mr Lawrence Wong: Mr Speaker, we need to understand the objectives of the different schemes. There are schemes that are provided to assist individuals, whether it is a COVID-19 Support Grant or others; and there are other schemes which are directed towards economic support. In this case, the JSS is really a broad-based wage support scheme. You may not feel the impact of it directly, but I assure you, it is extremely important to have such a scheme to ensure that companies retain their local workforce. Without such a broad-based wage support scheme, I am quite sure unemployment rates today would be far higher than they are. And we would be in a different position altogether.

Having said that, circumstances will change. We are talking about a period when we had circuit breaker, when a lot of companies were impacted and we had to put in place a broad-based support scheme. We have already started to differentiate the JSS by tiers and we will continue to review to see how the JSS can be more targeted and transit also now, to a Jobs Growth Incentive, to encourage companies to create new jobs.

So, these schemes will continue to be reviewed and updated.

2.00 pm

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question Time. Introduction of Government Bills. Minister for Home Affairs.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos 16-17, 26-27, 29, 32, 36-38, 41-42, 48-49, 51, 53-55, 57 and 59-63 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix. Question Nos 15, 18-25, 28, 30-31, 33-35, 39-40, 43-47, 50, 52, 56 and 58 have been postponed to the sitting of Parliament on 4 November 2020.]