A proposed pay rise of between five and 14 per cent for Singapore’s Public Servants is likely to have a knock-on effect on the private sector, according to human resources experts.
In a statement, the Public Service Division (PSD) said the salary increases were needed to “keep pace with the market”.
The PSD said the Public Service would also step up growth and development initiatives and introduce more flexible work arrangements to make a career in the public sector more attractive.
About 23,000 officers are to benefit from the salary adjustments, they perform diverse roles across the Public Service ranging from policy-making to administration and operations work.
It comes as industry experts point to a widespread scarcity of top talent, with most organisations finding it harder to hire and fill roles.
For every unemployed person in Singapore there were 2.11 job vacancies as of December last year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Manpower.
A year before, the same figure was just 0.76.
Country Manager of ManpowerGroup Singapore, Linda Teo said the shortage of manpower and the difficulty in hiring talent with certain skill sets had pushed employers to pay more to retain and attract talent.
“The PSD has to recalibrate its compensation package so as to remain attractive as an employer and not lose talent to the private sector,” Ms Teo said.
Managing Director for Randstad Malaysia and Singapore, Jaya Dass said the wage rises were coming after two years of stagnant increments and bonuses because of the pandemic and economic uncertainty.
“With the economy recovering and companies resuming expansion plans, there is now a domino effect where compensation for workers, suppressed in the past two years, is now bouncing back,” Ms Dass (pictured) said.
She said she’d seen a median of 15-to-25 per cent wage increases, with 35-to-50 per cent jumps for jobs in demand, such as in IT and life sciences.
“What the Government has done is actually, I would say, a bare minimum for Government jobs and definitely not in the front of it. It’s at least getting them up to a level playing field with external markets,” the Managing Director said.
She noted that the PSD had said it would increase efforts to provide officers with meaningful career opportunities and support their growth and development with job attachments, structured job rotations, formal training and project work.
“The Public Service has taken a stand in these aspects and is helping set a benchmark for the private sector,” Ms Dass said.
Singapore, 9 June 2022
