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Budget

Ministerial statement on continued support for workers and jobs

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced on 17 August continued support for Singaporean workers and jobs as a result of the ongoing fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The main takeaway for businesses was the extension to the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), originally announced in the February Resilience Budget and enhanced in subsequent budgets.

The JSS has been extended by up to 7 months covering wages from September 2020 to March 2021. The level of support reflects the government’s objective to provide most support to the most severely affected sectors whilst providing continued support across the board. The previous level of support provided under the JSS drew heavily on Singapore’s reserves and risks trapping workers in unviable businesses, and therefore DPM Heng announced a reduction in the level of support across the board as shown by the table below.

Tier

Extended JSS Support
(Sep 2020 - Mar 2021 wages)

Tier 1 50%

Tier 2

30%
Tier 3A 10%
Tier 3B 10% only for Sep-Dec 2020 wages
0% for Jan - Mar 2021 wages