Civil servants to get mid-year bonus of 0.45 month, lower than last two years'

SINGAPORE — Against the backdrop of a weaker economic outlook, Singapore’s biggest employer, the civil service, will give its employees a mid-year annual variable component (AVC) of 0.45 month’s pay in July. This will be given out together with a lump-sum payment of S$200, the Public Service Division (PSD) said on Thursday (June 13).

The mid-year AVC is slightly lower than the half-month payout that civil servants have been getting in the past two years. Last year, the one-off lump-sum payment was higher at S$300. 

For some 1,400 lower-wage civil servants in Grades IV and V of the Operations Support Scheme, they will receive a higher lump sum of S$300 instead of the S$200, though this amount is lower than the S$500 given out last July.

For example, a worker with a monthly salary of S$1,500 will get S$1,800, which is $300 more than what he would get if it was pegged to his salary.

Civil servants in Grade V will receive a built-in wage increase of up to S$50, over and above their annual increment.

The PSD, which comes under the Prime Minister’s Office, said: “The above mid-year payments signal the Government’s continued commitment to support our lower-wage civil servants.”

It added that the Government will decide on the year-end AVC payment for civil servants after taking into consideration Singapore’s economic performance in the second half of this year.

The last time civil servants received a 0.45-month mid-year bonus was in 2016, when there was a weakened global economic outlook and uneven demand for labour across sectors. 

Last year, civil servants received a year-end one-month bonus. 

The upcoming bonus payments next month come on the back of Singapore’s economy having grown by 1.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year, and is expected to grow by 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent for the full year, based on preliminary estimates.

On the labour-market front, while total employment continued to grow and as overall unemployment rates and resident unemployment rates held steady, the citizen unemployment rate has inched up.

Retrenchments in the first quarter of this year have also risen compared with the previous quarter.

The PSD said that in making the mid-year payouts, it took into account those factors and the recommendations of the National Wages Council, as well as consulted with public-sector unions.

Responding to the PSD's mid-year payments announcement, National Trades Union Congress' assistant secretary-general Cham Hui Fong said that the bonus is a reflection of the lower gross domestic product forecast and the economic uncertainties caused by the trade tensions between the United States and China.

There is a need, she added, to “push ahead with innovation and training to raise productivity”.

“We will work closely with PSD and the unions to boost (the civil servants’) skills levels and continue to invest in job redesign to enhance the job value."

Mr G Muthukumarasamy, general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Public Daily Rated Workers, said that given the lower bonus, “we urge our members to be prudent in their spending in view of the uncertain economy ahead”.

Mr Sanjeev Kumar Tiwari, general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Public Employees, said that the bonus is “reasonable as it acknowledges the slowing economy”.

“Especially in such disruptive times, our public officers must remain relevant and adapt to the changing dynamics through skills upgrading in areas of digitalisation and the use of new technologies,” he added.