Close to 6,600 firms got wage credit in 2022 to support hiring of people with disabilities

SINGAPORE - Close to 6,600 organisations received a wage credit in 2022 that supported their employment of over 10,000 persons with disabilities (PWDs).

Of this group of PWDs, close to 2,000 had not had work for at least six months, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Social and Family Development Eric Chua in Parliament on Tuesday.

The Enabling Employment Credit, which began in 2021 and will run till 2025, provides up to 20 per cent wage support for employees with disabilities earning below $4,000 per month, capped at $400 a month per worker.

Companies that hire PWDs who have not been working for at least six months receive an additional 20 per cent in wage offsets, capped at $400 a month per employee for the first nine months.

This is to encourage the hiring of PWDs who have been unemployed long term and are more likely to be financially reliant on their families.

Mr Chua was providing an update on the various schemes available to support the employment of PWDs, following a question by Ms Carrie Tan (Nee Soon GRC) on the financial independence and self-sufficiency of this group.

She had asked about the schemes available and their success rates.

Mr Chua also highlighted the Open Door Programme that started in 2014, under which PWDs can receive up to one year of job matching and customised employment support from trained job coaches.

Grants under this programme subsidise training courses for PWDs run by the Enabling Academy, as well as workshops that prepare employers and their employees without disabilities to interact with, hire, integrate and retain workers with disabilities in their organisations.

Between 2020 and 2022, agency for disability SG Enable and its partners placed in jobs an average of 500 PWDs each year, said Mr Chua.

He also pointed out that PWDs can take up job and training opportunities created under customised place-and-train and attach-and-train programmes by the authorities. 

More than 380 job and training opportunities have been filled under these two programmes since they were introduced in 2021, said Mr Chua.

The average resident employment rate for PWDs aged 15 to 64 is steadily increasing, he noted.

Between 2018 and 2019, when data on PWDs was first collected in the Comprehensive Labour Force Survey, 28.2 per cent of this group were employed.

This increased to 31.4 per cent in 2021 to 2022, and the country is moving towards its goal of 40 per cent by 2030, said Mr Chua.

Ms Tan asked if there would be further investments to accelerate efforts to enable more people with special needs to be employed in adulthood, to ensure greater success and self-sufficiency.

She noted that as at December 2022, there were 35,500 students with special needs.

In response, Mr Chua said there would be more Enabling Business Hubs set up across the island to bring employment and support services closer to where PWDs and their caregivers live.

The authorities are also looking at which industries are more amenable to disability-inclusive employment.

Now, this includes services and the food and beverage sector, but other sectors such as logistics could be examined, he added.