Gov’t OKs $10b wage subsidies for 1.2 million workers

It represented about 86% of all applications received from workers.

The 2022 Employment Support Scheme Secretariat (2022 ESS) approved $10b salary subsidy for May 2022 for 152,000 employers, which will affect 1.2 million workers.

In a statement, the government said this comes after 86% of applications from employers were approved.

However, some 4,000 applications from employers were rejected due to their failure to provide the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) contributions for their employees or employees not meeting the eligibility criteria for the 2022 ESS.

Applicants seeking a review of their request for subsidy must provide the relevant MPF remittance statements for the fourth quarter of 2021 to prove that they made contributions to their relevant employees on or before February 28, 2022.

Meanwhile, 10% of applications are still pending as the government agent is requesting supplementary information from the relevant employers or MPF trustees. The Secretariat's target is to finish the processing within June. 

By next week, the Secretariat will also inform the first batch of employers of their final approved subsidies for June.

“They will receive the June wage subsidies within seven working days upon receiving notifications,” the government said.

For self-employed persons (SEPs), the Secretariat approved almost 72,000 applications, which involved about $570m and 60% of all SEPs applications received.

Around 30,000 SEPs applicants were rejected mainly due to ineligible SEPs MPF accounts.

As for the remaining 15,000 applications, the Secretariat is eyeing to finish vetting within June.