Smaller bonuses for civil servants in Singapore

Civil servants in Singapore can expect to receive a mid-year annual variable component (AVC) of 0.45 month - slightly lower than last year (0.5 month).

This was announced by Singapore's Public Service Division (PSD) in a recent press release.

PSD added that low-wage civil servants can also expect to receive a built-in wage increase of up to $25 in monthly salary, over and above their annual increment in 2016.

The mid-year AVC and the built-in wage increase for civil servants will be paid in July 2016.

Also read: Local low-wage workers to get a pay raise

PSD stated the amount of this year's AVC was decided against the backdrop of a weaker global economic situation.

"Labour demand is expected to be uneven across sectors in 2016. While the unemployment rate has remained low, employment growth has slowed and redundancies are expected in some sectors as the economy restructures," PSD stated.

It explained about 1,500 civil servants in grades IV and V of the Operations Support Scheme (OSS) will also get a built-in wage increase of $20 and $25 respectively.

Comparatively, for the last two years, low-wage public officers have received a wage increase of S$30 and S$70 respectively.

The mid-year payments were decided in close consultation with the public sector unions.

As reported by TODAY, although the the raise for low-wage officers is lower than the National Wages Council’s recommendation of S$50 to S$65 for those earning up to S$1,100, all civil servants are already earning above this benchmark.

PSD added the Government will decide on the year-end AVC payment for civil servants, after taking Singapore’s economic performance in the second half of 2016 into consideration.

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