Labour chief backs Jobs Credit

LABOUR chief Lim Swee Say yesterday threw the full backing of the labour movement behind the Government's Jobs Credit scheme which aims to help save jobs by giving companies cash grants.

Doubts expressed by a number of MPs over the effectiveness of the scheme missed the point, as it was not meant to save all jobs, but to minimise layoffs, he indicated, as he painted a picture of looming unemployment worldwide.

One scenario has world unemployment reaching 51 million new unemployed this year.
Singapore's resident unemployment rate was 3.2 per cent last year, and is projected by some analysts to rise to 5 per cent this year.

Said Mr Lim, rising in Parliament as the 43rd MP to speak on the Budget: 'Many Singaporean workers are worried (whether) retrenchment will continue to rise rapidly...Will they be one among the 51 million globally to join the ranks of the unemployed?

'If you ask me how far we should go to try to save jobs as we go through this downturn, the realistic side of me says: 'Let's go as far as we can'.'

In any case, the Jobs Credit scheme has already had a positive effect on some firms, he noted, pointing to examples cited by Nominated MP Cham Hui Fong

Ms Cham, a director of industrial relations at the National Trades Union Congress, told Parliament earlier that thanks to the cash grant which would ease cash flow, some firms had deferred plans to retrench.

Others are sharing the cash grant with workers by giving them a small wage increase or sending them for training.

These examples show that the scheme works, Mr Lim said.

The $4.5 billion Jobs Credit scheme announced on Jan 22 subsidises employers' wage bill to the tune of 12 per cent of the first $2,500 paid to every Singaporean and permanent resident worker.

Mr Lim also highlighted another rationale for the Jobs Credit scheme: to protect workers' Central Provident Fund savings.

'Many Singaporean workers are concerned (that) even if they keep their job, will they be able to keep their CPF? Employers' contribution to CPF has declined over the years...to 14.5 per cent now. Many workers' take-home pay has already been affected. There's no overtime, shorter work week and so on. So any significant cut in CPF this time round will hurt even more,' he noted.

- The Straits Times