Debated in Parliament on 5 Feb 2013.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Acting Minister for Manpower (a) what is the total amount of special credit that has been given so far to employers for continued employment of senior workers and persons with disabilities respectively; and (b) how many employers, senior workers and persons with disabilities have benefited respectively from this scheme so far.
To support older Singaporean workers, we introduced the Special Employment Credit (SEC) to encourage employers to hire Singaporean employees aged above 50 years and earning up to $4,000 per month. For each Singaporean employee aged above 50 who earns up to $3,000 monthly, employers will receive an SEC of 8% of the employee’s monthly wage. The SEC payout will be progressively lowered for employees with a monthly wage of between $3,000 and $4,000. This encourages employers to not only hire older workers, but to also pay them good wages.
Since 2012, the SEC is also given to employers who hire persons with disabilities (PWDs), including PWDs aged below 50 years. For each PWD employee who earns up to $4,000 monthly, employers will receive an SEC of 16% of the employee’s monthly wages, up to a maximum of $240 per month.
Page: 156
The SEC is paid out twice a year. Since its introduction in 2011, $268 million has been paid out to 91,000 employers for employing 404,000 eligible employees between January 2011 and June 2012. This includes the $2.5 million that was paid to 2,000 employers for hiring 3,200 eligible PWDs between January 2012 and June 2012. The next payment of SEC will be in March 2013, for employers who have eligible employees on their payroll between July and December 2012.
The SEC is an important initiative to support older Singaporeans and PWDs to gain dignity through work and help them be independent.
PAPERCUTS