Civil servants to receive mid-year bonus of 0.3 months amid improving economy: PSD

SINGAPORE — With Singapore’s economy on the road to recovery, civil servants will receive a 0.3-month mid-year bonus this year, the Public Service Division (PSD) said on Friday (June 18).

Civil servants in more junior grades will also receive a one-time payment of S$350 or S$700.

Last year, civil servants did not receive their year-end and mid-year bonuses due to economic uncertainties caused by Covid-19.

In a press release on Friday, PSD noted that the Singapore economy is expected to recover in tandem with the global economy and Singapore’s ongoing nationwide vaccination programme.

“Following the unprecedented economic crisis in 2020, Singapore’s economy and labour market have seen positive developments in the first quarter of 2021,” it said, noting that the economy expanded by 1.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter of 2021, a reversal from the 2.4 per cent contraction in the previous quarter.

However, it stressed that significant downsides remain, including uncertainty over the trajectory of the pandemic.

Other countries are experiencing recurring waves of infections and more transmissible strains of the virus are emerging. The pace of economic recovery in Singapore is also expected to be uneven across various sectors of the economy, it said.

“Domestically, despite Covid-19 generally being under control and the progress that we are making in vaccinating our population, there remain significant risks and uncertainties in our own Covid-19 situation.”

The Government has therefore decided to pay out a mid-year Annual Variable Component (AVC) of 0.3 months to “recognise the tireless efforts of civil servants while bearing in mind the overall economic situation”, PSD said, adding that this is done in close consultation with the public sector unions.

Civil servants in grades equivalent to MX13(I) and MX14 will also get an extra one-time payment of S$350.

PSD said that the Government will continue to monitor the economic situation and consider the guidelines due to be issued by the National Wages Council (NWC) later this year when deciding the year-end AVC payment.

In a separate statement, Ms Cham Hui Fong, the deputy secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), called the mid-year payouts a “welcome reward” for civil servants since both mid-year and year-end variable component payments were paused in 2020.

Ms Cham added that NTUC was heartened that the Government had taken into consideration the NWC’s earlier recommendation of providing a one-off lump sum for lower-wage workers.

“We hope the Government will consider built-in wage increases that are more sustainable and can uplift their incomes in the longer term,” she said.

She also called on private sector companies that are seeing growth or recovery to similarly reward their workers “duly and fairly”.

Mr Sanjeev Kumar Tiwari, the general-secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Public Employees, welcomed the bonus payouts and the extra financial support for lower-income public officers.

“We are grateful to our public officers who have stood at the forefront and gone beyond their call of duty during the pandemic to serve our people."