Non-graduate civil servants get 5% pay rise

SINGAPORE — All Civil Service officers on the non-graduate schemes will receive a pay bump of about 5 per cent from this month, as part of salary adjustments made after the Public Service Division’s (PSD) annual review to keep pace with private sector wages.

For civil servants on the graduate schemes, the 5-per-cent pay hike will apply to those in the middle-management grades. “The senior- and entry-level graduates were not included in the review as their salaries are deemed competitive with the market,” the PSD said in response to media queries.

The last time Civil Service salaries were adjusted to keep up with the private sector was in 2012.

“We are careful not to lead the market ... Singapore has seen some economic growth over the past two years and the labour market has remained tight. The Civil Service continues to face competition in the hiring market,” the PSD said, adding that it had studied private sector salary data before selectively making the salary adjustments.

There are currently 82,000 Civil Service officers. The PSD declined to reveal the number of civil servants who will get a pay adjustment, but it is estimated that the move will benefit tens of thousands of employees.

The PSD said officers in the management executive, management support, technical support and clerical support schemes were involved in the adjustment.

Data on the respective number of officers on the graduate and non-graduate schemes was not readily available.

It added that statutory boards set their employees’ salaries, although they might take reference from the Civil Service.

The salary review was first reported by Channel NewsAsia on Thursday.

It comes after the move — which took effect last month — to raise monthly salaries of lower-wage civil servants in response to recommendations made by the National Wages Council.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Home Affairs also announced in its latest periodic compensation review that all uniformed officers in the Home Team would be given pay increases of up to 12 per cent.

On the latest adjustment, CIMB Research economist Song Seng Wun felt the Government is leading by example, given that it had “always been advocating fair wages and for companies to increase wages if they see fit”.

“This increase is to ensure Public Service wages and remuneration are in line with what the private sector is offering in this tight labour market,” he added.

In fact, Ms Annie Yap, founder and managing director of AYP Asia Group, said the Civil Service pay adjustment might even surpass what some small and medium enterprises are offering their workers.

“I don’t think the civil servants are lagging behind the private sector in terms of wages ... it is fairly comparable,” she said.

However, Professor Sattar Bawany, chief executive officer of the Centre for Executive Education, felt the PSD should “clearly articulate and provide the information on how extensive its private-sector salary data study was (and) what industry and which level it benchmarked salaries to”.

“You cannot talk about first-class public service and not reveal the ‘performance compensation philosophy’ that you adopt,” he added.