<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Why Jobs Credit is special and gratifying
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><DIV class=story_text><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to yesterday's report, 'Caution: Jobs Credit an exceptional weapon'. It is important to understand correctly the sense in which the Jobs Credit scheme is exceptional and the sense in which it is unexceptional.
The Jobs Credit scheme is not unusual as a means to fight a recession because the lowering of wage costs to employers has been a common and major plank in the package of counter-cyclical measures since 1985. Most notably, to fight the 1985 recession, employers were given the relief of a 15 percentage point cut in their monthly Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution rate.Then, in response to the contagion effect of the 1998 Asian financial crisis, there was a 10 percentage point cut in employers' monthly CPF contribution rate.
The Jobs Credit given to employers has exactly the same wage cost-cutting effect as a CPF contribution rate cut. What is exceptional with the Jobs Credit scheme is that instead of having current employees bear the whole burden of the cost-cutting measures via reduced credits to their CPF accounts, the Government has stepped in to foot the bill. For that, we should be grateful for years of past budgetary surpluses.
Dr Hoon Hian Teck
<!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><!-- Current Ratings : end --><!-- vbbintegration : start --><DIV class=vclear><!---vbbTime (Thread ID: 25735) - Start : Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:54:57:610---><SCRIPT language=javascript>function readCookieVbb() { var errorString = getURLParam("error"); user=getCookie("HTTP_user_id") luser="" if (user!=null) { luser=user.toLowerCase() if (luser == "anonymous" || luser == "anonymous|anonymous") { window.location= p_logoutLink; } } if(user != null && user !=0 && luser!=null && luser != "anonymous" && luser != "anonymous|anonymous") { document.writeln("<table border='0' width='100%' cellspacing='0' id='story_comments' style='display:none'>") document.writeln("<tr id='comments_body' style='display:none'><td colspan='2'>") document.writeln("<table border='0' width='100%' cellspacing='0'>") document.writeln(" <tr ><td class='heading'>Latest comments</td></tr>") document.writeln(" <tr><td id='messageDisplayRegion' width='100%'></td></tr>") document.writeln(" <tr><td align='right'>» Offensive? Unsuitable? Report comment
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</TD></TR><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>Posted by: code22xx at Fri Oct 16 09:48:04 SGT 2009
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" class=AlternatePost cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>Any scheme is good only if it properly implemented. Especially cheating should be checked. Do you know there are thousands of companies who have ghost workers, that is, they dont pay salary but only contribute CPF to show that they are employees. This is in order to get foreign worker quota. But now as an unexpected bonanza, such companies are receiving $ 50K to $ 80K as jobs credit payment from govt. Some bosses are stunned and feel too guilty to encash the cheque. They know they are not entitlted to it. Now there are new entrepreneurs who start companies only to make profit from jobs credit scheme by showing 20 to 30 staff working for them.
</TD></TR><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>Posted by: Charrro_1968 at Fri Oct 16 09:01:56 SGT 2009
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</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><DIV class=story_text><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to yesterday's report, 'Caution: Jobs Credit an exceptional weapon'. It is important to understand correctly the sense in which the Jobs Credit scheme is exceptional and the sense in which it is unexceptional.
The Jobs Credit scheme is not unusual as a means to fight a recession because the lowering of wage costs to employers has been a common and major plank in the package of counter-cyclical measures since 1985. Most notably, to fight the 1985 recession, employers were given the relief of a 15 percentage point cut in their monthly Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution rate.Then, in response to the contagion effect of the 1998 Asian financial crisis, there was a 10 percentage point cut in employers' monthly CPF contribution rate.
The Jobs Credit given to employers has exactly the same wage cost-cutting effect as a CPF contribution rate cut. What is exceptional with the Jobs Credit scheme is that instead of having current employees bear the whole burden of the cost-cutting measures via reduced credits to their CPF accounts, the Government has stepped in to foot the bill. For that, we should be grateful for years of past budgetary surpluses.
Dr Hoon Hian Teck
<!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><!-- Current Ratings : end --><!-- vbbintegration : start --><DIV class=vclear><!---vbbTime (Thread ID: 25735) - Start : Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:54:57:610---><SCRIPT language=javascript>function readCookieVbb() { var errorString = getURLParam("error"); user=getCookie("HTTP_user_id") luser="" if (user!=null) { luser=user.toLowerCase() if (luser == "anonymous" || luser == "anonymous|anonymous") { window.location= p_logoutLink; } } if(user != null && user !=0 && luser!=null && luser != "anonymous" && luser != "anonymous|anonymous") { document.writeln("<table border='0' width='100%' cellspacing='0' id='story_comments' style='display:none'>") document.writeln("<tr id='comments_body' style='display:none'><td colspan='2'>") document.writeln("<table border='0' width='100%' cellspacing='0'>") document.writeln(" <tr ><td class='heading'>Latest comments</td></tr>") document.writeln(" <tr><td id='messageDisplayRegion' width='100%'></td></tr>") document.writeln(" <tr><td align='right'>» Offensive? Unsuitable? Report comment
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</TD></TR><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>Posted by: code22xx at Fri Oct 16 09:48:04 SGT 2009
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" class=AlternatePost cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>Any scheme is good only if it properly implemented. Especially cheating should be checked. Do you know there are thousands of companies who have ghost workers, that is, they dont pay salary but only contribute CPF to show that they are employees. This is in order to get foreign worker quota. But now as an unexpected bonanza, such companies are receiving $ 50K to $ 80K as jobs credit payment from govt. Some bosses are stunned and feel too guilty to encash the cheque. They know they are not entitlted to it. Now there are new entrepreneurs who start companies only to make profit from jobs credit scheme by showing 20 to 30 staff working for them.
</TD></TR><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>Posted by: Charrro_1968 at Fri Oct 16 09:01:56 SGT 2009
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