Government Accepts Recommendations To Uplift Landscape Employees With Sustained Wage Increases, Enhanced Career Ladder And Mandatory Training Requirements

More than 3,000 landscape employees to benefit from enhanced Landscape Progressive Wage Model

The Government has accepted the Tripartite Cluster for Landscape Industry¹ (TCL) recommendations to:

1. provide a six-year schedule of sustained baseline wage increases under the Landscape Progressive Wage Model (PWM) from 2023 to 2029;
2. implement new job roles of Landscape Specialist and Senior Landscape Specialist as part of the enhanced PWM Career Ladder from 1 July 2023; and
3.  enhance mandatory training requirements across all job roles on the PWM Skills Ladder from 1 July 2023.

2 The TCL’s recommendations will ensure significant wage growth, as well as clearer training and career progression pathways to benefit more than 3,000 landscape employees. These moves take into account the specialised skills and technical knowledge of these employees, thus supporting the industry in attracting new talent.

Six-Year Schedule of Sustained Wage Increases

3      The Government accepts TCL’s recommendation for a six-year schedule of sustained wage increases from 2023 to 2029². This follows a previous review of scheduled wage increases in 2018.

4        To illustrate, the basic monthly wage of an entry-level Landscape Worker is expected to grow from about $1,650 in 2022 to $2,385 in 2029³. This reflects a strong tripartite consensus to continue raising the wages of landscape employees, and an appreciation of their importance to the industry. The schedule of sustained wage increases will also offer service providers and buyers greater business and contracting certainty.

Enhanced PWM Career Ladder with New Job Roles in Specialist Track

5      In January 2021, the Government accepted the TCL’s recommendation to introduce a Specialist Track under the PWM Career Ladder. As part of this new Specialist track, new job roles of Landscape Specialist and Senior Landscape Specialist were created, and will take effect from 1 July 2023.

6        The new job roles will provide better career prospects for landscape employees who wish to develop more specialised skillsets, and do not aspire to become a supervisor. Students who graduate with the necessary qualifications may also be hired to fill these positions. This will attract new entrants to the industry, and offer greater clarity on career prospects for landscape employees.

Enhanced PWM Mandatory Training Requirements

7        The Government accepts TCL’s recommendation to enhance mandatory training requirements across all landscape PWM job roles with effect from 1 July 2023. Each job role will require three mandatory WSQ modules for progression under the PWM. This will ensure that there is adequate training at each job level, and encourage employees to continually upskill as they progress in their careers.

Whole-of-Society Effort to Uplift Lower-Wage Workers

8        The Government reiterates its call for service providers to continue to invest in their employees’ training for a more productive workforce, for service buyers to adopt progressive contracting practices, and for employees to embrace upskilling. Together, our whole-of-society efforts will uplift our lower-wage workers.

9        The Tripartite Cluster for Landscape Report is available online at www.ntuc.org.sg/tripartiteguidelines.