As Singapore funds workers’ wages amid coronavirus crisis, SME bosses ask: ‘What about us?’

A support scheme that pays workers 25 to 75 per cent of their wages excludes employers, including some 160,000 small businesses and microenterprises

As thousands of business owners sign a petition for more relief, some observers caution there is no one-size-fits-all approach

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Singapore ordered all non-essential business to close on April 7, 2020. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:30pm, 8 Apr 2020Updated: 10:35pm, 8 Apr 2020

Cancelled projects, delayed payments, and clients who go missing: these are some challenges that businesses in Singapore are grappling with as the coronavirus outbreak brings the city state to a standstill with a partial lockdown and is set to take a continued toll on the economy.

For Shawn Loo, creative director and owner of branding and design studio Every Matter, this means about an 80 per cent nosedive in revenue compared to December last year.

“The impact is real,” he said. “If the situation persists, I will need all the help with the cash flow I can get, meaning that I might have to make hard decisions to cut my headcount.”

Like Loo, other business owners say that they are feeling the squeeze of the virus outbreak stronger than ever – even as the Singapore government, over the past two months, unveiled three stimulus packages worth S$59.9 billion (US$42 billion) which would see a drawdown of S$21 billion from the nation’s deep reserves.

Employers in the city state have launched a petition to urge the government to provide greater forms of relief for business owners, that as of Wednesday evening had garnered close to 5,000 signatures.

“While it is reassuring to know that I am not facing this crisis alone and the government is helping small and medium enterprises tide through this period, many owners of small businesses are wondering why they are excluded from the schemes,” said Loo.

He was referring to how the benefits of the jobs support scheme (JSS) – in which the government offsets up to 75 per cent of the first S$4,600 of all local workers’ monthly wages for April, and then 25 to 75 per cent for the remaining eight months depending on the sector – does not apply to employers.