Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): I thank the Minister for answering the original question. Just a quick follow-up on the Minister’s point about the upcoming support for workers who are involuntarily unemployed.
Can I confirm whether the benefits or the programme that the Government is considering is over and above its current policy on retrenchment benefits, as in even though those are not legislated, are they going to supersede the Government’s position on retrenchment benefits or are they still two separate matters?
Dr Tan See Leng: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for seeding that question. I hope to address more of this in about three days’ time. But the intent, first and foremost, is that this is not an unemployment insurance. So, retrenchment benefits will still continue.
What we are intending to do is to provide this support so that the involuntarily unemployed workers can take a little bit more time in finding a right fit for the jobs that would come their way, rather than rushing into any job that they can find.
Like I said earlier on, we are close to finalising the parameters. I do not want to front-run the entire scheme itself. We will be announcing the details later on this year. But the Member can take heed that, to his point, the retrenchment benefits today will still move, as it has always been moving along.
Ministry of Manpower
29 February 2024
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=oral-answer-3498
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 