23,000 civil servants to get 5-14% pay raise from Aug 1, as part of review to 'keep pace with market': PSD

SINGAPORE — About 23,000 officers in the civil service’s generic schemes and their related schemes will get a pay raise of between 5 and 14 per cent from Aug 1 onwards, the Public Service Division (PSD) announced on Sunday (June 5).

These officers have “diverse roles” ranging from policymaking to administration and operations work, PSD said in a media statement.

It pointed out that salaries for the generic schemes were last reviewed in 2014 when those in non-graduate schemes got a 5 per cent pay bump. Since then, salary levels in the market have gone up.

“The Civil Service periodically reviews salaries and adjusts them when necessary to broadly keep pace with, but not lead, the market,” PSD said.

“These adjustments will enable the Civil Service to continue to attract and retain its fair share of talent.”

This comes a few months after the Minister-in-charge of the public service, Mr Chan Chun Sing, revealed that the public service has seen an increase in its resignation rate across the board.

The turnover for its management executive scheme, the largest generic scheme in the civil service, reached a 10-year peak of 9.9 per cent last year.

PSD said on Sunday that officers in the management executive scheme, management support scheme and corporate support scheme will “receive salary adjustments” of between 5 and 10 per cent, with higher adjustments for grades that have larger gaps with the market benchmark.

Officers in the management executive scheme are deployed across all ministries for job roles such as policymaking, administration and line operations. The public service includes employees in the civil service as well as the statutory boards.

Meanwhile, those in the operations support scheme will receive higher adjustments of between 6 and 14 per cent.

This was in line with the call by the Tripartite Workgroup on Lower-Wage Workers to increase lower-wage workers’ salaries.

PSD said that the Covid-19 pandemic has “underscored the importance of a strong public service” and that it is “committed to attracting, developing and retaining a future-ready workforce that can continue to deliver its best for Singapore and Singaporeans”.

Aside from increasing salaries, PSD said that the public service will step up efforts to give officers meaningful career opportunities as well as support their growth and development. These include job attachments, structured job rotations, formal training and project work.

A Ministry of Home Affairs spokesperson said that it is also reviewing its schemes of service "to ensure that they remain competitive and keep pace with the market". Officers will be informed of any changes by the end of this year.

Civil servants whom TODAY spoke to welcomed the news, adding that they have still been getting yearly increments or performance-based increases over the past two years amid the pandemic, but not market adjustments. 

They requested anonymity as they have not been authorised to speak to the media.

One in her late 20s, who has been in the management executive scheme for the past three years, said she was “very happy”, especially given inflation and the rising cost of living.

“I think civil service salaries shouldn’t be too far off from private sector rates, so it’s good that they’re increasing our salaries to keep up with what’s out there on the market.

“The increments have varied but with the pandemic, I think I really can’t complain,” she added.

Another civil servant, who recently left the same scheme after several years, said the annual increments in the last two years were “bad” — specifically, below S$200.