Protecting Jobs
The Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) was launched in February’s Unity Budget to help businesses retain local employees. As part of the Fortitude Budget in May, the JSS was extended for an additional month. To date, over $16 billion of JSS payouts have been issued, which has benefited over two million workers in more than 150,000 firms.
The latest announcement will see the JSS extended in the following ways:
1. The JSS will be extended by up to seven months until March 2021. The payout will be distributed in March and June 2021.
2. JSS support levels will be adjusted for different sectors, based on the projected recovery:
a. Businesses in the Aerospace, Aviation and Tourism sectors will receive wage subsidies of 50% for seven months, until May 2021
b. Firms in the built environment sector will receive wage subsidies of 50% for two months until October 2020, before the support is lowered to 30 per cent for the next five months
c. Firms in the Arts and Entertainment, Food Services, Land Transport, Marine and Offshore, and Retail sectors will receive wage support of 30% for seven months, until May 2021
d. All other remaining sectors will be provided with wage support of 10% until March 2021
e. For sectors that are coping well during this COVID-19 pandemic, such as Biomedical Sciences, Financial Services and ICT, there will be 10% wage support for four months until December 2020.