The man behind d  Jobs credit scheme: killing 3 birds with one stone is Mr Poon Hoon Yuen 39. Director for economic programmes. (A director in MOF) with his team has minister Tharman advise, give direction to d budget team on what to focus on..., thot came throught with deep discussion on how much..question is how much is needed..?.(Jobs saving....Save jobs), to give firms cash: How the novel scheme evolved into S$4.5 billion worth was a stunner for policymakers to came up with... a wage subsidy incentive for SMe companies to save jobs cap to salary upto S$2,500/-.

ST paper Sat Jan 31, 2009 (Page A29-A30) Review.Insight

It took them to realize things is not going well from Oct 2008, thus..this team has to re-focus more on how to save job cost rather then cut jobs to save cost and they started ASAP till late into d night, till budget day arrive.

It caught even analysts and businesses alike by surprise, it has to take into consideration...extra ordinanary measure to ease pain w/o cutting into CPF, cutting 12% off each workers wages cost upto S$2,500/- monthly salary.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090130/tap-singapore-finance-economy-jobs-06f3cb7.html Job squeeze in last quarter

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam warned last week the country is facing its worst recession since independence 44 years ago and announced a record stimulus package of more than 13 billion US dollars.

The 7,000 workers laid off in the Oct - Dec 08 quarter compared with 2,346 employees who lost their jobs in the preceding three months and 1,966 for the same period in 2007, the ministry said. For the whole of 2008, there were 13,400 workers laid off, up from 7,675 the year before.

Employment also slowed significantly to 26,900 in the fourth quarter of last year, from 55,700 people who were hired in the preceding quarter and 62,500 in the same period in 2007.

S'pore in Oct 08 was first Asian economy to enter recession, falling victim to a global slowdown sparked by crisis in the US housing market.

85,000 jobs lost in one day

Top industry leaders like Caterpillar, Philips, ING, Pfizer and General Motors are bleeding jobs. »Details

world economy was hit by a massive wave of job cuts on Monday with companies announcing plans to lay off tens of thousands of workers as US President Barack Obama warned of a crisis that could become "dramatically worse."

WASHINGTON (AFP) - - US unemployment claims hit a 26-year high and home building fell to half-century lows, data showed Thursday, highlighting the scale of the recession facing the new Obama administration, two of the worst-hit areas: the labor market and the collapsed housing sector, the epicenter of the global credit squeeze that erupted in August 2007.

For more info...click below

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090122/tts-us-economy-unemployment-construction-972e412.html

Thk to him This budget is to save cost to keep jobs & not cut jobs to save cost..Ya

Mr Tharman said: "The Resilience Package aims to save jobs to the maximum extent possible in the recession, and to help viable companies stay afloat. It also prepares Singapore to emerge with strength when the global economy recovers, and enhances our capabilities and competitiveness for the long term.

"The Resilience Package will not get us out of the recession, as long as the global economy continues to contract, but it will help avert an even sharper downturn, and more lasting damage to the economy." - CNA/vm

S'pore GDP revised down from -2% +1% to -5% t -2%, real cool...ya.

Singapore revises down 2009 growth forecast, inflation rate

Posted : 21 Jan 2009 0802 hrs

Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry(MTI) on Wednesday revised Singapore’s GDP growth forecast downwards to -5.0 to -2.0 per cent, lower than previous estimates of -2.0 to +1.0 per cent. Full Story »

Singapore's trade to decline by 17% to 19% in 2009

Singapore inflation up 6.5% for '08 but expectations lower for '09