Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI)

1. Phase 1: Employers established on or after 17 August 2020

2. Phase 2: Employers established on or after 16 February 2021

3. Phase 3: Employers established on or after 24 September 2021

4. Phase 4: Employers established on or after 18 February 2022

5. Phase 5: Employers established on or after 14 September 2022

6. Dormant employers, e.g. No business done, not in operations, various inactive business status, in the midst of Struck off, Struck off, In Liquidation, etc.

7. Singapore Government Agencies including Organs of State, Ministries and Departments, Statutory Boards

8. Government and Government-Aided Schools

9. PA Services and Grassroot Units

10. High Commissions, Embassies, Trade Offices, Consulate

11. Unregistered Local/Foreign Entities

12. Foreign Military Units

13. Representative offices of:

(a) Foreign companies

(b) Foreign Government Agencies

(c) Foreign Trade Associations/ Foreign Chambers/ Foreign Non-profit Organisations

(d) Foreign Law Practices

14. Bank Representative Offices/Insurance Representative Officers/Other Financial Representative Offices (registered with MAS)

15. News Bureaus (which are representative offices)

16. International Organisations

17. Entities which pay CPF but are not registered in Singapore

18. Entities fully funded by Government for manpower costs

Baseline computation

To be eligible for the JGI, there must be an increase in overall local workforce size AND increase in local workforce size earning ≥$1,400/month, compared to the local workforce in the baseline month.

You may wish to compute your employer’s baselines using the JGI calculator while referencing examples below. For ease of illustration, we have shown the calculations for new hires employed in Phase 5 (i.e. qualifying window of Oct 2022 to Mar 2023) compared to the Sep 2022 local workforce. The same calculations will apply for Phase 1 to 4, but compared to the baseline local workforce for the respective phases.

Example 1 – Employers that meet the eligibility criteria for JGI

Example 2 – Employers that did not meet the eligibility criteria for JGI

No, JGI will be computed only for the months where the employer meets the employer eligibility criteria.

Using Phase 5 as an illustration, the JGI will be computed this way, assuming that persons A, B and C do not leave:

As there are months where the employer would not meet the JGI eligibility criteria, the employer would not be able to enjoy the full 6 months of JGI for Person A and Person B as the JGI would be provided till March 2023 and April 2023 respectively (6 months from Oct 2022 and Nov 2022 respectively).

In general, employers should ensure that they pay fair wages to their employees. As there may be legitimate reasons where wages are adjusted, it is not a requirement for employers to maintain the wages of their existing local employees or new local employees in order to be eligible for the scheme, subject to meeting the eligibility criteria.

However, employers should note that downward wage revisions may affect the employer’s JGI payouts in the affected months.

The purpose of JGI is to bring about creation of good and long-term jobs, to ensure that local employees are employed meaningfully. $1,400 a month is pegged to the Local Qualifying Salary for employers to hire foreign workers and covers more than 90% of full-time employed residents.

Yes. Employers will be eligible as long as they increase the size of their local workforce. This includes employers which are able to hire more local hires even as they reduce or leave unchanged their overall workforce, i.e. had fewer foreign workers.

To be eligible for the JGI, there must be an increase in overall local workforce size AND increase in local workforce size earning ≥$1,400/month, compared to the August 2020 local workforce for Phase 1, or the February 2021 local workforce for Phase 2, the September 2021 local workforce for Phase 3, or the March 2022 local workforce for Phase 4, or the Sep 2022 local workforce for Phase 5.

This allows us to target JGI at growing employers that had business activity before the JGI was introduced or extended.

To qualify for the different phases, assuming that you fulfil the eligibility criteria for the JGI and hire eligible new locals within the respective qualifying windows, you must incorporate by:

Yes, employers with no employee in the baseline month would be eligible for the relevant phase of the JGI if they fulfil the eligibility criteria for the JGI.

New businesses incorporated after 16 August 2020 (after 15 February 2021 or after 23 September 2021 or after 17 February 2022 or after 13 September 2022) are not eligible for the JGI. The eligibility of the newly converted company depends on which phase the new local hire is hired for.

No. Business owners trading in their own personal capacity are not employees and will not be included in the baseline nor eligible for the JGI.

Local shareholder-directors who are salaried employees of the company are included in the computation of baselines. However, only new local shareholder-directors who are salaried employees of the company will be eligible for the JGI.

Existing shareholder-directors who were not salaried employees in the month of August 2020 (February 2021, September 2021 or March 2022 or September 2022) will not be eligible for the JGI if they start receiving salary from September 2020 (March 2021, October 2021 or April 2022 or October 2022) onwards.

Shareholder-directors are treated differently from other business owners as they may receive wages from their companies.

Part-timers are covered by the Employment Act. There is an employer-employee relationship between the part-timer and the employer. As such, part-timers should be included in the firm’s baseline.

We consider such employees in the baseline workforce size as they were under your employ in the baseline month.

If the employer meets the eligibility criteria during the qualifying window (at least once from September 2020 to February 2021 or March 2021 to September 2021), and continues to be eligible throughout the payout period, all new local employees employed in the qualifying window for the respective phases will receive JGI payouts for up to 12 or 18 months from the month of hire. 

If the employer meets the eligibility criteria during the qualifying window (at least once from October 2021 to March 2022), and continues to be eligible throughout the payout period, all new local employees employed in the qualifying window for Phase 3 will receive JGI payouts for up to 6 or 12 months from the month of hire. 

If the employer meets the eligibility criteria during the qualifying window (at least once from April 2022 to September 2022), and continues to be eligible throughout the payout period, all new local employees who are (i) mature and not in work for at least six months, (ii) PwDs or (iii) ex-offenders employed in the qualifying window for Phase 4 will receive JGI payouts for up to 12 months from the month of hire. 

For the purposes of illustration, we assume that the JGI-eligible employer continues to meet the employer eligibility criteria throughout the JGI payout period:

For hires employed in Phase 4:

Example: If the employer hires 1 new mature local hire who has not been in work for at least six months in April 2022, JGI payouts will be given for this local hire until March 2023 as long as he/she is still employed by the employer. The employer will receive up to 12 months of JGI.

For hires employed in Phase 5:

Example: If the employer hires 1 new mature local hire who has not been in work for at least six months in March 2023, JGI payouts will be given for this local hire until August 2023 as long as he/she is still employed by the employer. The employer will receive up to 6 months of JGI.

Gross monthly wages will be computed from mandatory CPF contributions that the employer makes for the local employee for each month, on the remuneration for which mandatory CPF contributions are payable under the CPF Act. This will be based on the mandatory CPF contributions made by employers for the relevant months made by the 14th of the following month (i.e. JGI for new local hires in April 2022 will be based on CPF contributions made on or before 14 May 2022). Gross monthly wages include employee mandatory CPF contributions but exclude employer CPF contributions.

Employers should make timely CPF contributions and ensure that the mandatory contributions are accurate.

Yes, the JGI payouts will be provided to all new local hires from September 2020 to March 2023 (inclusive), if the employer meets the employer eligibility criteria for the respective phases. Please refer to [https://www.cpf.gov.sg/employer/employer-obligations/how-much-cpf-contributions-to-pay] for information about CPF contribution for employees.

Gross monthly wages will be computed from mandatory CPF contributions that the employer makes for the employee for each month, on the remuneration for which mandatory CPF contributions are payable under the CPF Act. 

However, firms undertaking abusive arrangements may have their JGI payouts denied and can be charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, where they may face up to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine.

Depending on the type of hire and which phase they were hired in, each employer of the same employee will receive JGI payouts based on the parameters for the specific phase and the gross monthly wage they paid to the new local hire.

Gross monthly wages will be computed from mandatory CPF contributions that the employer makes for the employee for each month, on the remuneration for which mandatory CPF contributions are payable under the CPF Act.

For example, if your new hire’s gross monthly wages were $4,000 a month, but the mandatory CPF contribution provided was pro-rated to 1 week (i.e. derived gross monthly wage is $1,000) as he/she had only worked for 1 week, JGI will be computed based on $1,000 in April 2022.

Yes, with the extended JGI, new local hires with mandatory CPF contributions from October 2022 to March 2023(inclusive) will be considered as new local hires, if the employer meets the JGI eligibility criteria for new hires employed in Phase 5.

We will compute the JGI for the months where mandatory CPF contributions were made and where the employer meets the employer eligibility criteria.

The JGI adjustment factor encourages employers to retain their existing employees as far as possible.

If a local employee in the baseline month is deceased, voluntarily resigned from the employer, retired or is currently on no-pay-leave*, you may submit the necessary documentation (e.g. resignation letter, retirement letter, proof of no-pay-leave,) to IRAS for consideration. However, please be aware that the last date to submit JGI appeals was 31 Jan 2024. Please note that we are no longer accepting submissions for JGI appeals.

Employers should not deliberately withhold CPF contributions from genuine employees, in order to minimise risk of incurring the JGI adjustment factor. Firms undertaking abusive arrangements may have their JGI payouts denied and can be charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, where they may face up to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine.

* This should not be due to cost saving measures.

Yes. The intent of the JGI adjustment factor is to encourage employers to retain their existing employees as far as possible.

Yes, the JGI adjustment factor will apply to employees who are transferred out, as such decisions are within the control of the company.

The JGI is only for genuine new hires. In general, employee transfers across business entities would not qualify for the JGI unless firms are able to substantiate that the purpose or effect of any arrangement is not abusive or avoidable, e.g. due to cessation of business operations/functions, where the transferred employee would have been retrenched if not for the transfer.

Yes, as the JGI adjustment factor is computed monthly, it will be adjusted to take into account that an existing employee who has been re-hired.

In general, this employee will not attract the JGI, as he/she is not considered a new hire.

It will be rounded to the nearest dollar.

The employee will be considered to be 40 in the month of his birthday.

IRAS will automatically assess your eligibility for the JGI, including enhanced support for PwDs. The PwD must be supported by SG Enable to qualify. Disabilities covered by SG Enable are autism, intellectual disability, physical disability, deafness/hard of hearing and visual impairment. If you have queries on the disabilities as covered by SG Enable, you may refer to www.sgenable.sg or contact SG Enable at: 1800-8585 885.

Yes, employers will receive the EEC and JGI based on their eligibility for each scheme. You are not required to apply for either scheme.

IRAS will automatically assess your eligibility for the enhanced support for ex-offenders under the JGI if you are an employer that hired local ex-offenders between September 2020 to March 2023 (inclusive) with the support of Yellow Ribbon Singapore, or Industrial and Services Co-operative Society (ISCOS), or halfway houses in contract with the Singapore Prison Service.

For all other employers who hired ex-offenders between September 2020 to March 2023 (inclusive) through the open market, please write in to IRAS and we will inform if your new local hire is eligible for the higher tier of support. However, please be aware that the last date to submit JGI appeals was 31 Jan 2024. Please note that we are no longer accepting submissions for JGI appeals.

The Government takes a serious view on any attempt to abuse the scheme. Offenders may have their JGI payouts denied and can be charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, where they may face up to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine.

To detect possible abuses, the Government has instituted a robust anti-gaming framework leveraging data from multiple sources to identify risks. When ascertaining whether an arrangement is abusive, the Government will consider all relevant facts and circumstances and conduct in-depth verifications where necessary.

Yes, employers will receive the JSS and JGI based on their eligibility for each scheme. You are not required to apply for either scheme. You can refer to https://go.gov.sg/jss to read more about JSS.

This is part of Government’s continued effort to ensure that public monies are used prudently and responsibly.

This is not a withdrawal of support:

• The enhanced hiring incentive has been replaced with a more generous JGI to encourage hiring in the immediate term.
• Unlike the Hiring Incentive, employers will not need to apply nor hire new local employees that had undergone reskilling programmes, in order to receive the JGI. 

The Government will work out grandfathering arrangements for those eligible for the Hiring Incentive. You may call 6883-5885 for further enquiries if your employer is eligible for the Hiring Incentive.

Yes, these local employees will qualify for the JGI payouts, if the employer meets the JGI eligibility criteria and these local employees were hired within the eligibility period from September 2020 to March 2023 (inclusive).

No. The JGI payout can only be paid to the employer which made CPF mandatory contributions for its employees.

Payouts will be credited via the following means (in order of priority):

1. The JGI payout will be credited to the employers' GIRO bank account used for Income Tax/GST
2. For those without GIRO accounts, the JGI payout will be credited to their bank account registered with PayNow Corporate*.

* Organisations can sign up for PayNow Corporate by linking their organisation’s UEN (without suffix) [e.g. ROC (2019XXXXXA), ROB (531XXXXXA), UEN (T19LLXXXXA)] to their bank account via internet banking. The nine banks participating in PayNow Corporate are United Overseas Bank, DBS Bank/POSB, OCBC Bank, Citibank, HSBC, Maybank, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited. For assistance, please approach these banks.

ePayment is the fastest way for employers to receive money from the Government.

The View Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) e-Service on myTaxPortal allows employers to view their baseline count in August 2020 and breakdown of individual JGI amount of employees. For instructions, you may refer to the user guide (for corporates) and user guide (for individual employers).

Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) Breakdown can only be viewed by business owners. For more information on business owners, please refer to the user guide (for corporates) and user guide (for individual employers).

No.

Yes.

The balance amount paid to you, after making deductions of tax offsets and JGI adjustment amounts for the payout period.

You may refer to this page for details on how to view your JGI letters.