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Singapore: Lower-wage retail workers to receive up to 6% pay bump from Sept 1
Arfah Mohamad Nasir, 23, is working on a flower bouquet at Far East Flora Centre. Lower-wage resident retail workers can expect an annual salary bump over the next three years. -- ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Lower-wage resident retail workers can expect an annual salary bump ranging from 5.1 per cent to 6 per cent over the next three years.
Full-time retail staff will receive these increments, amounting to $130 to $160 per year, from Sept 1, 2025, to Aug 31, 2028.
Part-timers who work less than 35 hours a week can also expect an increase of close to 6 per cent in their hourly gross pay from Sept 1, before further hikes in subsequent years.
The pay increase from Sept 1, 2027, is subject to review in 2026, as it may be adjusted upwards if the economic situation improves.
The announcement was made by the Tripartite Cluster for Retail Industry (TCR) on Aug 11, after the Government accepted its new recommendations on the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) for the retail sector.
TCR introduced its first set of recommendations in 2022, leading to an annual pay hike of 8.4 per cent to 8.5 per cent over three years for lower-wage retail staff who are Singaporeans and permanent residents.
In a press release on Aug 11, the National Trades Union Congress said TCR has taken a 'balanced and pragmatic approach' while proposing the new round of more modest wage hikes, given the challenges facing employers in the retail sector.
Many of them are grappling with rising operational costs, a manpower shortage, growing competition from e-commerce platforms as well as overseas retail options, especially with the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link set to begin operations in early 2027.
Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash noted that the global uncertainties were also taken into consideration.
'The Government is also watching the economic outlook closely, and if there's a requirement for us to make further changes along the way, we will consider that as well,' he told reporters during a visit to Far East Flora Centre on Aug 11.
Under the new recommendations by TCR, entry-level retail workers will receive a monthly gross salary of at least $2,305 from Sept 1, up from the current $2,175. This excludes their overtime pay.
Those who are more senior will see their baseline pay go up from S$2,395 to S$2,535 from Sept 1.
For assistant retail supervisors, the baseline pay will rise from S$2,635 to S$2,790 from Sept 1, and will hit S$3,100 from Sept 1, 2027.
To help businesses adjust to the higher labour costs, eligible employers will receive co-funding of up to 40 per cent of the salary increase in 2025, and 20 per cent in 2026.
'This will alleviate cost pressures, while enabling businesses to drive transformation efforts to enhance productivity and raise wages sustainably,' the Manpower Ministry said in a press release.
Introduced in 2012, the PWM helps to uplift workers' wages through skills upgrading and productivity improvement. It has been implemented in sectors such as cleaning, security and landscape, as well as lift and escalator maintenance.
More than 53,000 retail workers are now covered under the PWM.
As at 2023, there were over 24,500 retail enterprises in Singapore employing about 142,000 workers. - The Straits Times/ANN
