WILL PRICES RISE?
When asked by reporters how consumers would be affected, TCR said that over the long term, costs would rise yet businesses should continue to keep look at improving productivity to sell more and to offer more competitive prices.
There are more than 29, 000 retail corporations in Singapore spanning convenience stores, department stores, supermarkets and shops selling fashion, sports, consumer electronics, furniture plus household goods among others. Some of the retail workers are also in companies in the wholesale industry.
Pointing to a manpower crunch within the retail sector, the particular Singapore Retailers Association’s honorary secretary Sue Khoo said the lady hopes that income increments and organized career pathways can help retailers retain workers and attract more people to join the.
Mister Chou Cheng Ngok, a TCR co-chair and representative for the Singapore National Employers Federation, said that the PWM recommendations with the TCR considered opinions from the retail market, such as seasonal fluctuations in sales and performance incentives.
This would help companies with implementation from the new requirements, stated Mr Chou, who might be also group chief executive officer and executive movie director of Popular Holdings.
“With the Singapore economic climate emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, I highly urge retail employers to leverage technology to transform their particular business, redesign their jobs and upskill their employees to stay relevant and be more productive, ” he or she added.
TCR said there is a review of the store sector’s PWM in 2024.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will enforce the implementation of Retail PWM requirements through employers’ eligibility for work passes.
Employers will need to comply with the stipulated Retail PWM requirements, and any other applicable PWM plus Local Qualifying Income requirements, in order to make an application for or renew function passes including work permits, S Passes and Employment Passes.
For retail workers employed by firms which do not hire foreign staff, TCR expects market energies to eventually press their wages as well.
From this year to 2026, the Government will co-fund PWM wage improves under the Progressive Income Credit Scheme, because announced during Spending budget 2022.
Given recent significant inflationary pressures, the Government stated in June that will its co-funding share in 2022 increases from 50 % to 75 percent for resident workers with gross month-to-month wages of up to S$2, 500.
It will go up from 30 per cent to 45 per cent for workers with gross monthly wages of above S$2, 500 and up to S$3, 1000.