‘Job support plan could do more to help closed firms’

An accounting expert on Monday said the government’s latest pandemic wage support scheme is effective and affordable, but it does not help businesses that have already closed.

Stanley Ho, a tax partner of KPMG China was commenting on the government’s Employment Support Scheme, which includes a monthly subsidy of $8,000 for eligible workers.

People earning more than $30,000 a month will not be able to benefit, while businesses – such as large supermarket chains – that have not suffered during the fifth wave are excluded.

Ho told RTHK that the government could consider extending the scheme’s three-month subsidy period, as well as support for businesses that have already shut.

“For those that have already closed down, I think this scheme may not be helpful.

“I think the government needs to give other incentives, for example, support for startups to bring the businesses alive again.”

He also said the government should look into ways to attract international businesses in the medium- to long-term.

On Sunday Labour and Welfare Secretary Law Chi-kwong said the design of the latest round of the Employment Support Scheme is different from its launch two years ago, adding that the aim now is to help bring about an economic recovery and lower unemployment.

He pointed out that when the scheme was first launched at the peak of an outbreak in 2020, it was aimed at giving businesses a lifeline, and officials could not have conceived how the pandemic would unfold.