Pedestrians walk on a footbridge in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong on Aug 6, 2021.
(ISAAC LAWRENCE / AFP)
HONG KONG – The Hong Kong government said it has approved the first-batch of wage subsidies and that around 45,000 employers will be notified of their successful applications starting from Tuesday.
READ MORE: HK wage subsidy: 87,000 applications received on first day
As of 6 pm Tuesday, the government has received around 150,000 applications from employers for the 2022 Employment Support Scheme. It has received about 100,000 applications from self-employed people so far.
A spokesman for the government said employers will receive the wage subsidies of May within one week after receiving the notifications
In a statement, a spokesman for the government said employers will receive the wage subsidies of May within one week after receiving the notifications.
The first batch of subsidies invovled around HK$2.3 billion in total, with a total committed employee headcount of 1.2 million.
"The government is processing expeditiously the remaining applications so as to disburse subsidies to more applicants promptly," the spokesman said.
Applicants can log in to the 2022 ESS website to check the amount of wage subsidy granted and the committed employee headcount during the subsidy period, the spokesman said.
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The scheme was first launched in 2020 to provide employers with subsidies to help them retain staff who might have become redundant for the employers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Applications for the latest round of the scheme will close at 11:59 pm on May 12.