Online platform for lower wage employees in Singapore launched
- Champa Ha
Employees that get paid lower wages will be able to log on to a new online service to check if they are being paid correctly.
The website, known as the Progressive Wage Portal (PW Portal), will allow employees to see if their wages are in line with the relevant Progressive Wage Model (PWM) or Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) requirements. Employees can also check to see the PWM job levels their employers have assigned them.
The PWM is a wage ladder with pay rises pegged to training and productivity, while the LQS is a wage threshold imposed by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on organisations that have foreign employees under their head count.
The portal will apply to employees covered under the PWM and LQS schemes, which include 234,000 full-time employees on lower wages, said Zaqy Mohamad, Senior Minister of State.
Zaqy added that more significant wage increases are expected in the next few years, citing the example of the basic wage requirements for general cleaners increasing by 85% over just six years, from SG$1,312 (US$977.29) in 2022, to $2,420 (US$1802.63) in 2028.
The Government had disbursed about SG$1 billion (US$0.74 billion) of funding for wage increases from the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme given in 2022, noted MOM. This amount co-funded pay rises given by around 70,000 employers to 345,000 or so employees.
The median monthly wage increase supported by the scheme was about SG$300 (US$223.47), the ministry stated.
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The new portal will also provide the relevant wage requirements, based on an employee’s PWM job role or LQS coverage. These employees can check if their tagged job role matches their actual job responsibilities, and if their employer is paying them correctly.
Employees will be sent reminders when the annual PWM wage increases take effect for their sector and occupation, and they can also check the portal to find out these new wage requirements, reported the Straits Times.
