Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI)

The qualifying window for new local hires will be:

• Phase 1 of the JGI: September 2020 to February 2021

• Phase 2 of the JGI: March 2021 to September 2021.

If the employer meets the eligibility criteria during the qualifying window (at least once from September 2020 to February 2021 or March 2021 to September 2021), and continues to be eligible throughout the payout period, all new local employees employed in the qualifying window for the respective phases will receive JGI payouts for up to 12 or 18 months from the month of hire.

For the purposes of illustration, we assume that the JGI-eligible employer continues to meet the employer eligibility criteria throughout the JGI payout period:

For hires employed in Phase 1:

a. Example 1: If the employer hires 1 new non-mature local hire in September 2020, JGI payouts will be given for this local hire until August 2021 as long as he/she is still employed by the employer. The employer will receive up to 12 months of JGI, as the new local hire is non-mature (i.e. aged below 40).

b. Example 2: If the employer hires 1 new local hire in September 2020, JGI payouts will be given for this local hire until February 2022 as long as he/she is still employed by the employer. The employer will receive up to 18 months of JGI, as the new local hire is mature (i.e. 40 and above), person with disability or ex-offender.

For hires employed in Phase 2:

c. Example 3: If the employer hires 1 new non-mature local hire in March 2021, JGI payouts will be given for this local hire until February 2022 as long as he/she is still employed by the employer. The employer will receive up to 12 months of JGI, as the new local hire is non-mature (i.e. aged below 40).

d. Example 4: If the employer hires 1 new local hire in March 2021, JGI payouts will be given for this local hire until August 2022 as long as he/she is still employed by the employer. The employer will receive up to 18 months of JGI, as the new local hire is mature (i.e. 40 and above), person with disability or ex-offender.

Yes, if the employer meets the eligibility criteria during the qualifying window for Phase 1 of the JGI (at least once from September 2020 to February 2021), and continues to be eligible throughout the payout period, all new mature individuals, persons with disabilities and ex-offenders hired in the qualifying window will receive JGI payouts for up to 18 months from the month of hire.

Gross monthly wages will be computed from mandatory CPF contributions that the employer makes for the local employee for each month, on the remuneration for which mandatory CPF contributions are payable under the CPF Act. This will be based on the mandatory CPF contributions made by employers for the relevant months made by the 14th of the following month (i.e. JGI for new local hires in September 2020 will be based on CPF contributions made on or before 14 October 2020). Gross monthly wages include employee mandatory CPF contributions but exclude employer CPF contributions. 

Employers should make timely CPF contributions and ensure that the mandatory contributions are accurate. 

No. The JGI payouts will be given only to new local hires from eligibility period September 2020 to September 2021 (inclusive). This is to ensure prudent use of public resources and to reward hiring that was achieved due to the introduction or extension of JGI.

Yes, the JGI payouts will be provided to all new local hires from September 2020 to September 2021 (inclusive), if the employer meets the employer eligibility criteria for the respective phases. Please refer to [https://www.cpf.gov.sg/Members/Schemes/schemes/other-matters/cpf-contribution-for-employees] for information about CPF contribution for employees.

Gross monthly wages will be computed from mandatory CPF contributions that the employer makes for the employee for each month, on the remuneration for which mandatory CPF contributions are payable under the CPF Act. 

However, firms undertaking abusive arrangements may have their JGI payouts denied and can be charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, where they may face up to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine.

For each new non-mature local hire, each employer will receive the JGI payouts based on the gross monthly wage (capped at $5,000 per month) that they paid to the new local hire.

For each mature, person with disability or ex-offender hire, each employer will receive the JGI payouts based on the gross monthly wage (capped at $6,000 per month) that they paid to the new local hire from March 2021 onwards¹.

¹ Supportable gross monthly wages for mature, persons with disabilities and ex-offenders will be capped at the first $5,000 for wages paid for September 2020 to February 2021.

This is to encourage employers to hire mature individuals, persons with disabilities and ex-offenders who may face more difficulties in their job search than non-mature jobseekers.

Employers that had hired new mature individuals, persons with disabilities and ex-offenders prior to the enhanced JGI had done so without the higher salary support. For more targeted implementation of the JGI, the higher supportable gross monthly wage will only take effect from March 2021 onwards. To benefit from the higher level of support, employers should maintain or pay higher salaries (whichever is applicable) to their hires who are mature individuals, persons with disabilities and ex-offenders.

Gross monthly wages will be computed from mandatory CPF contributions that the employer makes for the employee for each month, on the remuneration for which mandatory CPF contributions are payable under the CPF Act.

For example, if your new hire’s gross monthly wages were $4,000 a month, but the mandatory CPF contribution provided was pro-rated to 1 week (i.e. derived gross monthly wage is $1,000) as he/she had only worked for 1 week, JGI will be computed based on $1,000 in September 2020.   

Yes, with the extended JGI, new local hires with mandatory CPF contributions from March 2021 to September 2021 (inclusive) will be considered as new local hires, if the employer meets the JGI eligibility criteria for new hires employed in Phase 2. 

As we want to encourage employers to bring forward hiring, the JGI is only for new local hires from September 2020 to September 2021 (inclusive).

We will compute the JGI for the months where mandatory CPF contributions were made and where the employer meets the employer eligibility criteria. 

No. Foreign employees in your employ who obtain Singapore citizenship or Singapore PR status after 31 August 2020 (or 28 February 2021) will not qualify for JGI as they are not new hires made by your company between September 2020 and September 2021. They will also not be included in your local workforce size from September 2020 (or March 2021) onwards for the purpose of computation of JGI payouts.

No.

For new hires employed in Phase 1 (between September 2020 and February 2021), the JGI adjustment factor is computed based on the ratio of existing local employees as at August 2020 who have left the employer to the total number of existing local employees as at August 2020 or 5%, whichever is higher. If none of the existing local employees as at August 2020 left the employer, no adjustment factor would be applied.

For new hires employed in Phase 2 (between March 2021 and September 2021), the JGI adjustment factor is computed based on the ratio of existing local employees as at February 2021 who have left the employer to the total number of existing local employees as at February 2021 or 5%, whichever is higher. If none of the existing local employees as at February 2021 left the employer, no adjustment factor would be applied.

The JGI adjustment factor will be applied to the baseline workforce for the respective phases, i.e. for new hires employed under Phase 1 and Phase 2, the baseline workforce will be August 2020 and February 2021 respectively.

If new hires employed in Phase 1 (i.e. September 2020 to February 2021) and in the firm’s employment as of February 2021 leave after March 2021, the JGI adjustment factor for Phase 2 will apply and the corresponding JGI payout for hires employed in Phase 2 will be reduced. The JGI adjustment factor for hires employed in Phase 1 will not be affected.

The JGI adjustment factor encourages employers to retain their existing employees as far as possible.

The adjustment factor is calculated based on the ratio of existing employees who have left the employer to the total number of existing employees as at August 2020 (or February 2021), or 5%, whichever is higher. If none of the existing local employees as at August 2020 (or February 2021) left the employer, no adjustment factor would be applied.

The adjustment factor is therefore higher if more existing local employees leave the employer:

• If new hires employed in Phase 1 (from September 2020 to February 2021) leave the employer, this does not affect the adjustment factor for other JGI payouts for Phase 1 hires (but it would affect the payouts for Phase 2 hires if the Phase 1 hires were with the employer in February 2021). Any JGI attached to such local hires will also cease.
• If new hires employed in Phase 2 (from March 2021 to September 2021) leave the employer, this does not affect the adjustment factor. However, any JGI attached to such local hires will cease.

If a local employee from August 2020 (or February 2021) is deceased, voluntarily resigned from the employer, retired or is currently on no-pay-leave*, you may submit the necessary documentation (e.g. resignation letter, retirement letter, proof of no-pay-leave,) using the JGI appeal form to IRAS for consideration.

Employers should not deliberately withhold CPF contributions from genuine employees, in order to minimise risk of incurring the JGI adjustment factor. Firms undertaking abusive arrangements may have their JGI payouts denied and can be charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, where they may face up to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine.

* This should not be due to cost saving measures. 

Yes. The intent of the JGI adjustment factor is to encourage employers to retain their existing employees as far as possible.

Yes, the JGI adjustment factor will apply to employees who are transferred out, as such decisions are within the control of the company.

The JGI is only for genuine new hires. In general, employee transfers across business entities would not qualify for the JGI unless firms are able to substantiate that the purpose or effect of any arrangement is not abusive or avoidable, e.g. due to cessation of business operations/functions, where the transferred employee would have been retrenched if not for the transfer.

The qualifying window for new local hires will be:

• Phase 1 of the JGI: September 2020 to February 2021

• Phase 2 of the JGI: March 2021 to September 2021

If the employer meets the two conditions of eligibility criteria: (i) an increase in overall local workforce size AND (ii) increase in local workforce size earning ≥$1,400/month, compared to the August 2020 or February 2021 local workforces, respectively depending on whether the hire occurred in Phase 1 or Phase 2, JGI will be given for all the new local hires.

However, the JGI payout will be adjusted downwards as existing local employees under the firm’s employment as at August 2020 (or February 2021) left.

Yes, as the JGI adjustment factor is computed monthly, it will be adjusted to take into account that an existing employee who has been re-hired. For example,

• For employers that had achieved new hiring in Phase 1: if an existing employee (under a firm’s employment as at August 2020) who was let go in October 2020 is re-hired in December 2020, the JGI adjustment factor in December 2020 will be adjusted accordingly.

• For employers that had achieved new hiring in Phase 2: if an existing employee (under a firm’s employment as at February 2021) who was let go in May 2021 is re-hired in August 2021, the JGI adjustment factor in August 2021 will be adjusted accordingly.

In general, this employee will not attract the JGI, as he/she is not considered a new hire.

It will be rounded to the nearest dollar.

The wage support provided by the JGI is:

• 25% of the first $5,000 of gross monthly wages paid to all new non-mature local hires.

• 50% of the first $6,000 of gross monthly wages paid to all mature, persons with disabilities and ex-offenders. (For such hires employed in Phase 1 (i.e. qualifying window of September 2020 to February 2021), the higher supportable gross monthly wages cap will apply from March 2021 onwards¹.)

The employee will be considered to be 40 in the month of his birthday.

¹ Supportable gross monthly wages for mature, persons with disabilities and ex-offenders will be capped at the first $5,000 for wages paid for September 2020 to February 2021.

IRAS will automatically assess your eligibility for the JGI, including enhanced support for PwDs. The PwD must be supported by SG Enable to qualify. Disabilities covered by SG Enable are autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, physical impairment, hearing impairment and visual impairment. If you have queries on the disabilities as covered by SG Enable, you may refer to www.sgenable.sg or contact SG Enable at: 1800-8585 885.

IRAS will automatically assess your eligibility for the enhanced support for ex-offenders under the JGI if you are an employer that hired local ex-offenders between September 2020 to September 2021 (inclusive) with the support of Yellow Ribbon Singapore, or Industrial and Services Co-operative Society (ISCOS), or halfway houses in contract with the Singapore Prison Service. 

For all other employers who hired ex-offenders between September 2020 to September 2021 (inclusive) through the open market, please write in to IRAS using the JGI appeal form and IRAS will inform if your new local hire is eligible for the higher tier of support.

The Government takes a serious view on any attempt to abuse the scheme. Offenders may have their JGI payouts denied and can be charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, where they may face up to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine.

To detect possible abuses, the Government has instituted a robust anti-gaming framework leveraging data from multiple sources to identify risks. When ascertaining whether an arrangement is abusive, the Government will consider all relevant facts and circumstances and conduct in-depth verifications where necessary.

Yes, employers will receive the JSS and JGI based on their eligibility for each scheme. You are not required to apply for either scheme. You can refer to https://go.gov.sg/jss to read more about JSS. 

There will be no changes to the implementation of the P-Max programme as a result of the introduction of JGI. Employers that receive JGI support, can continue to embark on the P-Max programme. 

This is part of Government’s continued effort to ensure that public monies are used prudently and responsibly.

This is not a withdrawal of support:

• The enhanced hiring incentive has been replaced with a more generous JGI to encourage hiring in the immediate term.

• Unlike the Hiring Incentive, employers will not need to apply nor hire new local employees that had undergone reskilling programmes, in order to receive the JGI. 

The Government will work out grandfathering arrangements for those eligible for the Hiring Incentive. You may call 6883-5885 for further enquiries if your employer is eligible for the Hiring Incentive.

Yes, these local employees will qualify for the JGI payouts, if the employer meets the JGI eligibility criteria and these local employees were hired within the eligibility period from September 2020 to September 2021.  

The JGI was launched to provide additional salary support to companies, in order to encourage them to hire more locals and provide more good jobs from September 2020 to September 2021.

As jobseekers who are placed into new jobs via WSG’s career conversion programmes such as the Professional Conversion Programmes may be with employers that are eligible for the JGI, WSG will be making adjustments to the programmes to further strengthen the retention of local employees.

While the total funding provided by WSG will remain unchanged, the disbursement period will be adjusted to encourage companies to retain new local hires for a longer period of time. The duration of funding will now include both the original training duration and a retention period.

No. The JGI payout can only be paid to the employer which made CPF mandatory contributions for its employees.

Payouts will be credited via the following means (in order of priority):
 
1. The JGI payout will be credited to the employers' GIRO bank account used for Income Tax/GST
2. For those without GIRO accounts, the JGI payout will be credited to their bank account registered with PayNow Corporate*.

* Organisations can sign up for PayNow Corporate by linking their organisation’s UEN (without suffix) [e.g. ROC (2019XXXXXA), ROB (531XXXXXA), UEN (T19LLXXXXA)] to their bank account via internet banking. The nine banks participating in PayNow Corporate are United Overseas Bank, DBS Bank/POSB, OCBC Bank, Citibank, HSBC, Maybank, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited. For assistance, please approach these banks.

ePayment is the fastest way for employers to receive money from the Government.

The View Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) e-Service on myTaxPortal allows employers to view their baseline count in August 2020 and breakdown of individual JGI amount of employees. For instructions, you may refer to the user guide (for corporates) and user guide (for individual employers).

Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) Breakdown can only be viewed by business owners. For more information on business owners, please refer to the FAQ section of user guide (for corporates) and user guide (for individual employers).

No.

 Yes.

The balance amount paid to you, after making deductions of tax offsets and JGI adjustment amounts for the payout period.

You may refer to this page for details on how to view your JGI letters.