The expansion of the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) is slated to cover 55,000 administrators and drivers across all industries starting March 2023.
This was announced as part of the 18 recommendations published on Monday (30 Aug) by the tripartite workgroup of representatives from the Government, employers, and the labour movement.
Currently, the PWM only covers workers in security, landscaping, cleaning, and lift maintenance sectors.
From March 2023, administrators in all firms nationwide should be paid at least S$1,500 a month, while drivers should receive a minimum of S$1,750, according to the workgroup.
The workgroup suggested a minimum of S$1,500, S$2,000, and S$2,800 for admin assistants, admin executives, and admin supervisors respectively.
General drivers, they proposed, should be paid at least S$1,750. Specialised drivers should be paid at least S$1,850, according to the workgroup.
Other than administrators and drivers, workers in the retail, food services, and waste management sectors will also be covered by the enlarged PWM.
The model will begin covering retail workers from Sep 2022, food services workers from Mar 2023, and waste management workers from sometime in 2023.
Around 13,000 lower-wage workers in the retail sector and 15,000 in the food services industry are slated to be included under the PWM.
No figures were provided by the workgroup for the number of lower-wage workers in the waste management sector.
Senior Minister of State for Manpower, Mr Zaqy Mohamad–who chaired the workgroup–said that the recommendations as a whole will enable 82 per cent of lower-wage workers in Singapore to receive some form of minimum level of progressive wages.
“We had tough conversations, but we agreed and achieved consensus on the outcomes, which will also minimise the risk of disemployment,” he said of discussions with employers who may be reluctant to agree with the recommendations.
The expansion of the PWM as detailed above, among other recommendations, have been accepted by the Government and were announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday.
