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Central Government, Policy, Tax and Revenue Management

Singapore reveals plan behind Jobs Credit Scheme

By Robin Hicks | 24 March 2009

Singapore’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) has revealed details of the plan behind the Jobs Credit Scheme, the S$4.5 billion (US$3 billion) initiative introduced earlier this year to save jobs by subsidising part of employers’ wage bills.

The Jobs Credit Scheme raised eyebrows not only because the scale of the measure to bail-out companies and protect jobs, but the speed with which it was rolled out – it was finalised only a week before the 2009 Budget was announced on January 22nd.

MOF was able to action the plan quickly, partly because it already had a robust database to determine the wages of employees in place, a MOF spokesperson explained to FutureGov. The Central Provident Fund (Singapore’s social security savings plan) database meant that the government did not have to seek additional information from businesses.

Also key to the plan were standardised identification numbers for each of the 385,000 businesses registered in Singapore - known as Unique Entity Numbers (UEN). “With the UEN, we were able to easily match the existing records held by different agencies and this made it possible to implement Jobs Credit in an efficient and seamless manner,” said the MOF spokesperson.

“This is because we were able to streamline processes such that employers that were eligible for Jobs Credit, were automatically granted the Credits by the Government and they need not apply for it.”

The MOF added that the scheme would not have been possible without teamwork between government agencies.

“Government assistance schemes can be complex and multi-faceted with numerous policy and implemenation considerations. This makes it difficult for any single government agency to design and implement such schemes on its own,” said the spokesperson.

“Hence, it is important for government agencies to work together as an integrated government to achieve the policy and implementation objectives. Agencies would need to leverage on each other’s strengths and know-how so that the implementation would be an effective and efficient one.”

The first payment of the Jobs Credit will be made on March 31, when 100,000 employers with 1.3 million local staff will receive S$920 million to help them through the economic downturn.

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