Nov 25, 2008
Public sector pay to fall
By Li Xueying, Political Correspondent
CABINET ministers and top civil servants will see their pay packages shrink by up to 19 per cent next year.
All civil servants will also be getting about one month less in various bonuses at the end of this year, as compared with last year.
A statement from the Public Service Division (PSD), which oversees civil service matters, cited the economic slowdown as the reason for the moves.
Civil servants will still receive their 13th month supplement next month. But unlike last year, there will not be a Growth Bonus, which was half a month's pay last year.
The Annual Variable Component, or AVC, to be paid next month, will be half a month's pay, down from one month a year ago.
Civil servants had earlier received half a month's bonus in July, plus a dollar quantum of between $100 and $300 to help them cope with inflation.
As for the pay of top office-holders, the PSD said yesterday that the 2009 annual salaries of both President S R Nathan and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will fall by 19 per cent compared with this year, to $3.14 million and $3.04 million respectively.
Senior permanent secretaries and entry-grade ministers at the MR4 grade will get $1.57 million, 18 per cent less than this year.
Administrative Service officers at the superscale entry grade of SR9 - these are usually top-performing officers in their early or mid-30s - will see their annual pay drop 12 per cent to $353,000.
Members of Parliament, whose allowances are pegged to public sector pay, will get $190,000, down 16 per cent.
The pay of Cabinet ministers and top civil servants has been pegged to the taxed income of top earners in six professions in the private sector since 1994.
Last year, an additional mechanism was introduced to link a 'significant' portion of pay - close to 25 per cent this year - to the performance of the economy, to allow more rapid adjustments to changing market conditions.
The 2009 ministerial pay packets announced yesterday will represent 56 per cent of the private sector benchmark derived from the 2008 Year of Assessment.
Since the pay formula was introduced, top civil servants and ministers have seen their pay go down several times along with the country's economic fortunes - in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003.
Mr Bob Tan, vice-president of the Singapore National Employers Federation, said the public sector's pay reduction sends a 'very positive signal' to the private sector, 'reminding them that when times are bad, the senior people should be prepared to take a total wage cut'.
Mr N. Rajendran, a housing agent, said: 'It's only fair that those who are better off should take the brunt.'
Mr G. Muthukumarasamy, general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Public Daily Rated Workers (AUPDRW), was pleased with the additional half a month's bonus he will get in December.
'The amount will provide additional relief for AUPDRW's union members, who are mostly daily rated workers, to help them and their families cope with their daily household expenses. We hope the Government will look into lowering the cost of living too,' he said.
Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Josephine Teo, who will see her MP allowance shrink, said: 'It is only right that our allowances reflect the changed economic conditions. However, I will keep up my various contribution commitments - to my parents and community.'
xueying@sph.com.sg
I have also attached the salary benchmark for which the pay of the top civil servants are based on and the pay scale of senior civil servants and ministers. Looking at the salary benchmark, it seems that it is always a bad idea to be an engineer as a professional. Even with the buoyant economy last year, their pay still fails to cross the $1 million hurdle.
This is where the perks of being a civil servant comes in. Despite of the pessimistic undertone of the article, there is still one important distinction between civil servants and people who worked in the private sector. That distinction is that the chances of civil servants being retrenched is very low. I have been hearing about people getting retrenched in the private sector from my contacts and I doubt this will happen in the civil service. Furthermore, they are still getting some amount of bonus. Adding the 13th month supplement, 1/2 month AVC and a half month bonus received back in July with a dollar quantum of between 100 to 300 dollars, their total bonus is around 2 months. It's not that bad after all given the state of the economy now.
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