SINGAPORE: Singapore's 77,000 civil servants will get a year-end Annual Variable Component (AVC) of 0.7 month.
Lower-wage
officers will get an AVC of at least S$1,000, signalling the
government's continued commitment to help low-wage workers.
The Public Service Division in the Prime Minister's Office announced the bonus in a statement on Thursday.
The statement said the bonus amount was decided against the backdrop of a "more subdued global economic outlook".
It
said: "Singapore's economic growth is expected to remain subdued for
the rest of 2012, with the economy expected to grow by around 1.5%.
"The
electronics manufacturing cluster would continue to be weighed down by
tepid external demand. On the other hand, expansion in the construction
sector could provide modest growth support to the overall economy.
"In
addition, growth may be slightly lower than forecast if the weakness in
the externally-oriented sectors persists into the final quarter of
2012."
The year-end AVC payment was decided in consultation with the unions.
Some
2,000 civil servants earning less than S$1,430 will benefit from the
minimum AVC payment of S$1,000. For example, an officer drawing a
monthly salary of S$1,200 will get a year-end AVC of S$1,000, instead of
S$840 based on 0.7 month of his salary.
About 96% of these 2,000 civil servants are Division IV officers.
All
civil servants will also get the Non-Pensionable Annual Allowance
(NPAA) of one month, to be paid in December along with the AVC.
Last year, civil servants got a 0.75-month year-end AVC.
In
a statement, the labour movement says it is happy that the government
has supported its proposal to have a higher dollar quantum to help the
low-wage workers.
The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) says
this is also in line with the National Wages Council's (NWC)
recommendations for 2012/2013 to help low-wage workers with higher
dollar quantum.
Mr Stephen Lee, President of the Singapore
National Employers Federation, said: "Most of the export sectors are not
doing very well. Some of the domestic sectors like construction and
healthcare are still doing okay. So I think the demand for labour, the
low GDP growth and the negative productivity are the forces that would
decide this year's bonus.
"For the private sector, the bonus
should depend on their annual result and if some companies do well they
should reward their workers fairly."
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.
