Workfare payout going out to 287,000 - Singapore
By Goh Chin Lian
SOME 287,000 low-wage workers will usher in the new year with the first of two payouts from the Government, to supplement their income.
The payouts on Jan 1 to employees will be in the form of cash credited into their bank accounts and deposits into their Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts.
But the self-employed and casual workers such as cleaners and hawker assistants - all of whom must have contributed to Medisave - will have payments credited entirely into their Medisave accounts.
A second payout from the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme will be made to employees in April, while the self-employed and casual workers will receive payments in May.
In all, employees will each get between $180 and $2,400 in the course of next year based on their age and the income they earned this year.
The self-employed and casual workers will receive between $120 and $1,600.
The January payout is for work done in the first half of this year.
But the Manpower Ministry said in a statement yesterday that once work for the whole of this year is taken into account, it expects that more workers will receive the second and final payout.
The January payment will be a boon for hawker assistant Yeo Jee See, 52, who earns $1,000 a month and lives in a three-room HDB flat in Whampoa.
A sole breadwinner, she is already dipping into her savings to look after her 79-year-old mother, who is recovering from breast cancer, and a 13-year-old son.
She expects to receive about $400 in her Medisave account on Jan 1.
‘I can use it to pay for my mother’s medical bills. She has a check-up in two months that will cost over $200,’ she said.
The WIS scheme replaces the one-off Workfare Bonus that was given over two years to workers aged 40 and above and who earned $1,500 and below.
Some 340,000 workers received the Workfare Bonus last year and about 362,000 did so this year.
The WIS, announced as a permanent scheme in February this year, covers workers aged 35 and above and forms the fourth pillar of Singapore’s social security net.
The others are the CPF scheme, home ownership, and the 3Ms: Medi- save, MediShield, and Medifund.
The WIS is intended to make up for the cut in CPF contribution rates for older low-wage workers which took effect this July. That move was taken to improve their employability.
The Jan 1 payout will cost the Government $146 million.
In a separate announcement on Thursday, the Government said it will also be giving out $138 million in utility rebates in January and July.
To qualify for the WIS, a person must have worked at least three months in any six-month period this year, or for six months this year.
Self-employed or casual workers who did not register with the CPF Board or make Medisave contributions can do so by March 31 to receive their full WIS in May.
Source : Straits Times - 29 Dec 2007
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