Debated in Parliament on 28 Nov 2022.
Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Prime Minister whether the Public Service Division will be considering a one-time wage adjustment for all civil servants to offset the anticipated high core inflation rate in 2022.
Mr Speaker, Sir, the Civil Service periodically reviews salaries and adjusts them when necessary to keep pace with, but not lead, the market. The recent salary adjustments for various groups of civil servants were determined based on salary gaps with market benchmarks. Beyond these adjustments, eligible officers also receive Annual Variable Component (AVC) payments and annual salary increments that take into consideration their performance, prevailing economic and labour market conditions and the National Wages Council’s recommendations on progressive wage growth.
In total, the salary increases arising from the recent salary reviews and annual salary increments, coupled with annual AVC payments, will more than exceed the inflation rate seen this year for all the civil servants who meet the criteria.
The Government has also rolled out a series of support measures this year, such as the recently announced Cost-of-Living Special Payment and additional CDC Vouchers. These support measures together will help to cushion the impact of sharp inflation changes and provide further relief for Singaporean households, with more support for lower- to middle-income groups.
Mr Ang.
Thank you, Speaker. I thank the Minister for the comprehensive reply. Can I just clarify one point? Minister was saying that with the recent adjustments in the civil service pay, every civil servant will get at least more than 5.1% of the salary increment because the core inflation rate in October is 5.1%? At the same time, we notice that there is a report in The Straits Times to say that about 68% of the employees were thinking of changing jobs if their pay is not increased more than the inflation rate.
The second supplementary question is: if that is so, that the Government is keeping the increment to more than 5.1% or inflation rate, would it encourage the rest of the Singapore companies to do the same as far as possible?
Mr Speaker, Sir, to answer to the first supplementary question, as I have said, the salary increases arising from the recent salary reviews, plus annual salary increments, plus the AVC payments will more than exceed the inflation rate this year, for all the civil servants who meet the criteria. There might be a very, very small number of people who do not meet the performance criteria and they might be short of that 5% that the Member mentioned. But that is a very, very small number of people who do not meet the performance criteria. On top of that, the Government has all the other packages for all the Singaporean households, which we think will be able to meet the requirement to help those who are most in need.
On the second supplementary question, MOM together with the National Wages Council (NWC) has laid out its own recommendations for the rest of the economy to do what we can and especially do more, if possible, for those households and individuals who need more help.
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