To prevent abuse of the system, unemployment benefits could be restricted to those who lost their jobs under involuntary circumstances and not due to poor work performance, economists say.
SINGAPORE: New policies on unemployment support will likely be calibrated to provide a temporary safety net for those who have been laid off while encouraging skills upgrading to improve job prospects, economists said.The idea of unemployment support in Singapore has been mentioned by ministers on various occasions over the past year. Most recently, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said suchThis does not have to be an insurance scheme, he said.
Other requirements – aimed at motivating people to find new jobs – could include attending training courses to upgrade existing skills or acquire new ones, having sought career guidance or counselling and being active in job searches, the economists added.NDR 2023: Retrenched workers to get financial support while reskilling, scheme still being 'fine-tuned'
“Everything will be measurable, in terms of targets or parameters as to whether someone is actively looking for a job or transitioning to another industry,” he added.Dr Kelvin Seah, senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore’s economics department, also noted the need for “appropriate mechanisms” to be built into the upcoming policy, so that “individuals will not find it in their interest to game the system”.
That said, there is a need to guard against potential abuse. Hence, benefits for those who voluntarily leave their jobs to improve their skills or transition into a new industry will likely have to be handled by a case-by-case process, he added. While the risks of reducing workers’ motivation to find work have been typically associated with unemployment support, such a system has its benefits too.
The large number of layoffs in the tech sector last year could have been the “turning point” in the government’s assessment of support for retrenched workers, Dr Seah said. During the pandemic, schemes were rolled out such as the COVID-19 Recovery Grant which gave up to S$800 a month in temporary assistance to Singaporeans whose jobs were hit by the pandemic.
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