The latest round of support measures announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat is a welcome shot in the arm for the economy and a recognition of feedback from the ground, industry players and observers said yesterday.
"There is a tapering off of the relief measures, which is appropriate given the need to allocate public funds wisely and in a more targeted way now that there is a better understanding of which businesses can pivot best to adapt to the post-pandemic environment, and which remain challenged," he said.
"It's encouraging that there will still be support for the workers themselves who have been retrenched or face income loss. The Covid-19 Support Grant extension will be helpful for them... and the Workfare Special Payment will also go directly to the pockets of low-income workers," he said. Mr Martijn Schouten, people and organisation leader for South-east Asia at professional services firm PwC, said the move to scale up the temporary redeployment programme for the aviation sector will help workers in the short run, but the sector requires"a more fundamental solution to deal with the longer-term effect of Covid-19".
Mr Ong Hwee Liang, chairman of the National Trades Union Congress Aerospace and Aviation Cluster, said the 4,000 new jobs in the healthcare sector and other areas of need under the redeployment programme are of particular interest to the unions under his cluster."Many workers have already been redeployed, and the scaling-up... will help even more workers find alternative employment during this difficult time," he said.
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