Mid-year bonus for civil servants

SINGAPORE - Civil servants will be paid a mid-year Annual Variable Component (AVC) of 0.3 month, against a backdrop of modest economic growth and global economic uncertainty, the government announced on Tuesday.

It has also considered the National Wages Council's (NWC) recommendation to grant a built-in wage increase of at least S$50 to low-wage workers earning up to S$1,000 per month, and decided to go beyond these recommendations for civil servants in Divisions IV and III - mainly support staff and junior officers.

Division IV officers, including those earning more than S$1,000 a month, will get an additional increment of S$60 per month. This is in addition to their normal annual increments. Division IV civil servants who have reached the maximum of their salary scales will get the same wage increase of S$60 per month. This will benefit around 3,600 civil servants.

Division III officers, all of whom earn more than S$1,000 per month, will get an additional increment of S$30 per month. This is in addition to their normal annual increments. Division III civil servants who have reached the maximum of their salary scales will get the same wage increase of S$30 per month. This will benefit around 5,900 civil servants.

For example, an operations support officer in Division IV who earns S$1,000 per month will get an additional built-in wage increase of S$60, on top of a S$30 normal annual increment. This will bring his monthly wage increase to S$90, which is three times the normal annual increment.

A corporate support officer in Division III, who is paid S$1,500 per month, will receive an additional built-in wage increase of S$30 on top of his S$50 normal annual increment. In total, his S$80 monthly wage increase amounts to 1.6 times the normal annual increment.

The monthly salary scale of a Division IV officer will go up from S$864 - S$1,064 to S$924 - S$1,124.

For a Division III officer, the monthly salary scale will go up from S$1,250 - S$2,000 to S$1,280 - S$2,030.

The Civil Service's NWC adjustments for all Division IV and III civil servants respectively will benefit more than 9,500 civil servants. This signals the government's strong commitment to help raise the salaries of lower-wage civil servants, said the Public Service Division.

The mid-year AVC and the built-in wage increase for Division VI and III civil servants will be paid in July.

Announcing the bonus and wage rise in a media statement, the Public Service Division noted that Singapore's economy had expanded modestly by 1.6 per cent in the first quarter of this year. Growth in the same period last year was 8.3 per cent.

For the entire 2012, the economy is expected to grow between 1% and 3%. And, the global economy is vulnerable to downside risks.

Against this backdrop, the government decided to pay a mid-year annual variable component of 0.3-month, lower than last July's half-a-month salary plus S$250.

Still, this July's payout was good enough for the labour movement, with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) saying it "fairly rewards" civil servants for their contributions.

NTUC also said it is heartened by the government's positive response to the NWC's recommendations and noted the special attention paid to lower-wage officers.

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 2012.