KUALA LUMPUR: The Wage Subsidy Program 3.0 under the Social Security Organisation (Socso) will be enhanced as part of the Permai Assistance Package (Permai), says Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The programme, he said, will be open to all employers operating within states which have been placed under the Movement Control Order (MCO), irrespective of sector.
For a period of one month, eligible employers will receive a wage subsidy of RM600 for each employee who earns less than RM4,000.
In addition, the wage subsidy limit of 200 employees for each employer will be increased to 500 employees, he said.
"This initiative involves an additional allocation of RM1 billion which is estimated to benefit 250,000 companies employing more than 2.6 million workers," he said during the special address aired live on national television channels today.
The prime minister said the government has also agreed to relax the conditions for the Employment Insurance System (EIS) Prihatin programme, thus helping those who had suffered loss of employment during the MCO period.
He said employees who do not meet the minimum contribution conditions, or whose contracts were not extended after having been renewed for at least three times previously, are now eligible to apply for the assistance of 30 per cent of their monthly salary for a period of three months.
To acknowledge the contribution of delivery riders who form the backbone of the delivery services of goods and meals during the MCO period, Muhyiddin announced a RM24 million allocation to fund the full contribution under Socso's Self-Employment Social Security Scheme.
"To date, almost 32,000 applications from delivery riders have been received under the scheme," he said.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said the government will expand the Prihatin Special Grant Plus assistance to cover 500,000 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in states under the MCO with a payment of RM1,000 each, while 300,000 SMEs in other states will receive RM500 each.
He said that the expansion of this additional special grant involves an additional allocation of RM650 million.
"However, should a state be declared a red zone with the MCO imposed, the government is ever ready to assist by immediately channelling additional assistance to SMEs in that state.
"To assist the cash flow of micro-enterprises and SMEs, the government will expedite the implementation of micro-credit schemes that had been announced previously.
"The implementation of RM1 billion micro-credit facilities include soft loans amounting to RM390 million by Bank Simpanan Nasional, RM350 million by Agrobank and RM295 million by the National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund (Tekun)," he added.