The Hong Kong government announced a new round of the employment support (or wage subsidy) scheme, providing up to 1.3 million workers affected by the fifth wave of the pandemic with three months of subsidy totalling $24,000 to help employers pay each eligible worker $8,000 a month from May to July. Applications must be made by business owners and subsidies can only be used to pay staff and not for any other purposes.
Workers that earn less than $30,000 on a monthly basis are eligible as well as those aged 65 or above with no MPF account. The government also stated that larger companies including those in government bodies, public institutions, supermarket chains, pharmaceutical chains, banks, financial institutions, property management, telecommunications, broadcasting and delivery services would be excluded. Employees with salaries higher than $30,000 would also not be eligible. Applications for the scheme are said to begin in April.
Costing them $26 billion to $31 billion, the government says the scheme is intended to support small to medium enterprises while also helping to curb the unemployment situation and boost business confidence. In her announcement, chief executive Carrie Lam also discussed the city’s worrying unemployment situation with the rate in February hitting 4.5 percent, resulting in over 157,000 unemployed Hongkongers.
With this in mind, the government are also pushing out a one-off payment of $10,000 for temporary unemployment relief. Eligible applicants must have been unemployed after working for at least one month in Hong Kong during the last quarter of 2021, in which their monthly salary before unemployment must have been between $2,700 to $30,000. Workers in the catering, beauty and fitness industries who have been on unpaid leave are also eligible. Applications for the $10k relief will open for three weeks from March 23 to April 12 April.
To learn about the city's latest pandemic regulations, visit this regularly updated guide.
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