Singapore to disburse S$940 million in wage credits by end-March

The Singapore government will disburse S$940 million (US$701 million) in wage credits to over 98,000 employers by end-March, bringing the total sum of wage credits rolled out to over S$2 billion (US$1.49 billion). 

“The Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) is one of the ways to uplift our workers, by supporting businesses to provide wage increases to Singaporean workers,” wrote Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat in a Facebook post.

The upcoming payout in March will see the government co-funding 15% of qualifying wage increases given in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 to more than 800,000 Singaporean employees earning a gross monthly wage of up to S$5,000 (US$3,729), said the Ministry of Finance in a press release. 

As part of the nation’s Unity Budget in 2020, the government’s co-funding for qualifying wage increases in 2019 and 2020 was raised by five percentage points to 20% and 15% respectively.

The gross monthly wage ceiling for workers was also raised from S$4,000 (US$2,983) to S$5,000 for both years, enabling more to qualify for the wage credit.

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Last year, over S$1 billion (US$0.75 billion) in wage credits was disbursed to more than 95,000 employers for wage increases in 2019. Further, an additional payout was made in June last year, on top of the annual payout made in March 2020. 

“These are uncertain times for many workers and businesses. I encourage employers to  continue to make use of this and other schemes to redesign jobs and upskill their workers,” said the minister.