Civil Service Bonus 2008, and pay cut for ministers
November 24th, 2008
Civil servants will receive a total bonus of 2 months this year, inclusive of the 13th month bonus. This is 1 month less than last year’s bonus.
As they have already received half a month’s bonus at mid-year, they will receive the 13th month annual wage supplement (AWS) and a further half month’s bonus at year end. That is, 1.5 months at year end.
Due to the economic downturn, the salaries of administrative officers (the highest earners in the civil service), political, judicial and statutory appointment holders will not be adjusted upwards as planned. Instead, they will all receive a pay cut of 11% to 19%.
These are the new salaries:
- President $3.14m (down 19%)
- Prime Minister $3.04m (down 19%)
- Ministerial Grade MR4 $1.57m (down 18%)
- Entry Superscale Grade SR9 $353,000 (down 12%)
- Allowance for Members of Parliament $190,000 (down 16%). Note that most MPs hold a full-time job and some are also directors in companies.
See their salaries before this adjustment.
Source: PSD press release.
Jonathan Wong Says:
November 25th, 2008 at 1:39 am
I’ve been in Singapore for almost a decade now, and for the love of god I still can’t figure out what exactly are the duties and responsibilities of our dear President that justifies a higher pay than the Prime Minister.
Is it simply based on protocol, since technically the “head of state” outranks the PM, and thus must be paid more?
Can anyone explain this to me?
Collin Says:
November 25th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Heart-burning question for me as well. Anyone?
jack Says:
November 26th, 2008 at 7:37 am
he does have some powers. fiscal, corruption investigatory, appointing powers etc.
in short, same rationale. he cannot be an inept or corrupt guy.
of course Says:
November 26th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
his wife not working, and his wife is working.. so, be happy.
WhatDidYouSay Says:
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Well he works weekdays and weekends and public hols and is responsible as a last line of control over singapore’s hardearned money and is a diplomat who has to look at ungrateful citizens more often than his own grandchildren. I think the president deserves his cash: )
Me Says:
January 7th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Despite the pay reduction, Singapore President is still earning 5 time the US president annual pay. Amazing!
civilServant Says:
January 11th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Though the top brass gets paid well, the bulk of the civil service officers are paid below market.
A fresh grad with a good engg degree from a reputed foreign uni could join a bank and make 4k+ in base salary alone, whereas here she would make substantially less.
in this time of financial trouble, the govt should increase salaries of its youngest officers who can then more confidently manage the newly launched recession-fighting programs.
non civil servant Says:
January 11th, 2009 at 11:51 am
how can we do that ?? it is because of the top brains at the top & not bottom that we have singapore today
civilServant Says:
January 11th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
who do you think does the actual work – of formulating national plans, selecting vendors and running programs? The top brass in many agencies consists of retired folk from the armed services or the like who are appointed for 2-3 years.
The govt ought to launch new spending programs to kick start the economy. To manage these programs, it needs to adequately staff the civil service – in the process creating more jobs. I’m just saying make these jobs good paying ones.
Now is the time to be visionary and attract talent – both local and foreign and put them to work for the good of the country.
All signs point to Major Retrenchments, yet Permanent Secretary Flaunts Wealth | Salary.sg - Your Salary in Singapore Says:
January 19th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
[...] servants. If his salary grade is MR4, he earns $59,760 per month [edited 19 Jan: this was before an 18% cut in end 2008, pending further cuts in 2009, but still a lot [...]
idare2say Says:
January 20th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Out of 77,000 millionaires in Sing, I wonder how many are civil servants?
Singapore’s Growth Model Needs Rethinking | Salary.sg - Your Salary in Singapore Says:
January 24th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
[...] expected, there are always people – see comments at TOC – who will use this to take a swipe at our highly remunerated government leaders for taking too much credit during the boom [...]
8 Months Bonus for Northwest CDC Staff | Salary.sg - Your Salary in Singapore Says:
March 14th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
[...] isn’t this at odds with the pay cuts announced by the government and lately our GLCs and [...]
Amos Says:
March 20th, 2011 at 9:08 am
This is ridiculous!!! Commoners in Singapore average pay increase by 2%-3% for years while inflatioin running above 3%, our disposable income drops over the years. Our dear ministers and president get 8 months bonus and 26% pay rise respectively? They need to give themselves excuses to get more money to pay for their high priced properties? Our MPs aspired to earn ministers’ salary are taking more board of directrors position to catch up with ministers’ pay. When things got screw up e.g. YOG way exceeded the budget, buying tons of F1 tickets for volunteers but arrive on the wrong date, building lesser HDB to inflat the property prices further etc… Is there anyone standing out to take the responsibility and step down? Pushing the property price up and spending lots of taxpayers’ money help to push the GDP up in order to get 8 months bonus. With such KPI, the behaviour will be like the Wall Street bankers in no time!!
how can? Says:
March 21st, 2011 at 2:52 pm
how can / dare u say our most capable & most highly paid gahmen fail to anticipate the surfeit of unsold flats in 2005 & also cause the high property prices & long queues for gahmen flats now ? u think they are sleeping ?
Ministerial Pay Review | Salary.sg - Your Salary in Singapore Says:
May 22nd, 2011 at 1:03 pm
[...] As pointed out in today’s Straits Times (printed edition), the government “does not disclose how much each minister is paid”, but the most current figures released by PSD are for the year 2009, which Salary.sg also covered in a previous article: [...]