KUALA LUMPUR: The Social Security Organisation (Socso) has welcomed the one month extension of the Wage Subsidy Programme (WSP) for all economic sectors affected by the total lockdown that began today.
Its chief executive officer Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed, in a statement today said the deadline to apply for the WSP had been extended from June 30 to July 30.
"Due to the WSP extension, the government has allocated RM1.5 billion for affected employers, limited to 500 employees per application.
"The incentive is expected to benefit 2.5 million workers and over 220,000 employers nationwide.
"The subsidies will be automatically disbursed to employers who have applied under WSP 3.0.
"Employers will only have to update their employees' list by the 15th day of the month.
"However, employers who have only applied for WSP 1.0 and WSP 2.0 must file a new application under WSP 3.0," he said.
On May 31, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the extension of WSP yesterday, as part of the financial aids rolled out under Pemerkasa Plus.
Azman said the WSP had helped employers who were economically affected by Covid-19 or those forced to halt operations during the Movement Control Order (MCO) to retain their employers and continue operating since the programme was introduced on April 1 last year.
"The WSP is a financial aid paid to employers of organisations for every local worker who earns RM4,000 and below.
"Since May 30, 2021, Socso has approved 330,586 WSP applications from employers and has disbursed RM15.04 billion which has benefited 2.72 million workers," he said.