Dr Robert Yap, president of the Singapore National Employers Federation, said the organisation strongly endorses the NWC’s guidelines that recommended fair and sustainable wage increases.
He acknowledged that small and medium enterprises may find it more difficult to increase wages because of the uncertain economic outlook.
“My encouragement to SMEs is to really look at transforming to look at being more relevant because if you stay like that, without any transformation, in the long term, it is going to be harder and harder to be able to sustain,” he said.
Ms Mary Liew, president of the National Trades Union Congress, said discussions were complex because some sectors like hospitality and aviation performed well, but economic uncertainty remains and higher costs are a concern for workers.
“We are pleased that the NWC has responded to this ground concerns of our workers by calling for a one-off lump sum payment to employees to help address the cost of living pressure that we are facing,” she said.
“We hope that this will also help the middle income and the sandwiched class of our workers as well,” Ms Liew said.
RECOMMENDED WAGES FOR ADMINISTRATORS, DRIVERS
The NWC also gave wage requirement recommendations for resident administrators and drivers under the occupational progressive wages model.
It first took effect this year with wage recommendations for March 2023 to February 2024. The new recommendations cover wage increases from July 2024 to June 2026.
The baseline gross wage for administrative assistants will see a one-off adjustment to at least S$1,800 from July 2024 from S$1,500 in March this year. This is to account for the fact that actual market wages increased since the 2023 requirement was announced in 2021.
The increases for administrative executives and administrative supervisors are smaller. The occupational progressive wage requirements will apply to around 48,600 resident lower-wage workers. An estimated 43,500 were earning less than the 2024 requirement as of 2022.
For drivers, the wage requirements are at a level that is meant to support good wage growth while allowing variable components to be retained “to mitigate (the) impact on firms’ operational and manpower planning”.
The requirements will apply to around 15,400 full-time resident lower-wage workers, and 8,400 were earning less than the 2024 requirement as of 2022.