Statistics on Adoption of Absentee Payroll under Workfare Training Support Scheme

Mr Zainal Sapari asked the Minister for Manpower since the absentee payroll under the Workfare Training Support (WTS) Scheme was first introduced (a) how many companies and workers have benefited and what is the total amount disbursed on a yearly basis; and (b) what is the breakdown of the companies by industry sectors that have benefited from WTS.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Over the past five years, an average of around 3,000 companies and 31,000 workers have benefited from absentee payroll funding 1 each year under the Workfare Training Support (WTS) Scheme. The average amount disbursed yearly is about $6 million. See Table 1 for details.

The breakdown of the top industry sectors with the most number of companies benefiting from absentee payroll funding is in Table 2. These are broadly sectors with a higher proportion of low-wage workers.

Note(s) to Question No(s) 27:

1 Absentee payroll covers 95% of an employee’s hourly basic salary, and is disbursed to companies for employer-sponsored training upon application.