Written Answer by Mr Lim Swee Say Minister for Manpower to Parliamentary Question on AWS
NOTICE PAPER NO. 997 OF 2017 FOR THE SITTING ON 5 FEBRUARY 2018
QUESTION NO. 736 FOR WRITTEN ANSWER
MP: Mr Zainal Sapari
To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) how many workers earning below $2,000 in monthly gross salary have received Annual Wage Supplements (AWS) in the last three years; and (b) what efforts are being made to encourage employers to give AWS to their workers.
Answer
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The proportion of full-time resident employees earning below $2,000 who received bonuses including the Annual Wage Supplement (AWS) has remained stable at about 50% over the last decade.
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Employers and unions share the flexibility in structuring staff remuneration together under our Flexible and Performance Based wage systems. Broadly speaking, rank and file employees have more of their annual package allocated to fixed monthly salaries while monthly or annual variable payments tend to comprise a bigger share for those in more senior positions. MOM therefore looks at total annual wages when monitoring wage increases. Over the past 5 years, total wages (including annual and monthly variable components) at the 20th percentile have risen by 4.1% per annum, comparable to the growth at the median.