The proportion of Singapore citizens hired under the Jobs Growth Incentives as of February 2021 is similar to the proportion of citizens in the resident labour force, said Manpower Minister Dr Tan See Leng on Monday (2 August).
Dr Tan was responding to questions from Progress Singapore Party (PSP)’s Non-Constituency Member Leong Mun Wai who asked about the industries that benefitted from the Job Growth Incentive, the number of citizens hired under the incentive, and the breakdown of the monthly salary bands of those locals who were hired.
In his written response, the Minister noted that the Jobs Growth Incentive supported the hiring of more than 270,000 locals from September 2020 to February 2021 by 42,000 employers.
However, he questioned the PSP’s “fixation” on drawing lines among locals.
Dr Tan said: “Permanent Residents may have spouses or dependents who are Singapore Citizens, and providing employment facilitation support allows them to continue supporting these Singaporean family members.”
Even so, Dr Tan then said that the proportion of JGI-supported hires who are citizens is similar to the proportion of citizens in the resident labour force, though he didn’t provide a specific figure.
For reference, the Comprehensive Labour Force Survey by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) cited on Gov.sg shows that citizens make up about 84.59 per cent of the country’s resident labour force as of June 2019.
As for the top hiring sectors under the initiative, Dr Tan identified the food services, wholesale trade, professional services, retail, and information and communication sectors.
Dr Tan also revealed that the median wage of JGI-supported hires between September 2020 and February 2021 ranged from about S$3,900 in the information and communications sector to S$1,400 in the retail and food services sectors.
The median wage in the professional services sector is about S$3,000 while the wholesale trade sector clocks in at approximately S$1,900, according to the Minister.
Dr Tan said: “The median wage of JGI-supported hires in each sector was higher than the median wage of all new hires in the same sector, over the same period.”
“As mentioned in the 22nd Jobs Situation Report, six in 10 of the JGI-supported hires earned the same or higher wages compared to their previous jobs,” he added.
