S'pore ministerial salaries unchanged since 2012, S$1.1 million for entry-level minister

Salaries for Singapore's ministers and political officeholders have remained unchanged since 2012, said Coordinating Minister for Public Services and Minister-in-charge of the Public Service Chan Chun Sing.

This is despite the median incomes of Singaporeans growing by 80 per cent over the same period, Chan said in a written reply to questions posed by Non-constituency Member of Parliament Eileen Chong.

Chong had also asked for the total annual compensation range for political officeholders from 2018 to 2024, as well as data comparing how political salaries tracked against median and 90th-percentile household incomes during this period.

Ministerial salaries unchanged since 2012

The norm annual salary of an entry-level minister is S$1.1 million, based on a 40 per cent discount to the market benchmark established in 2012, Chan said.

A review committee was formed in 2012 to look at the salary structure and compensation package for political officeholders.

"Although a subsequent committee was formed in 2017 to review the 2012 framework, the government of the day decided not to make any changes to political salaries then as the economy then was undergoing transition," Chan said.

This remains the case today as well, he added.

The salary points for other political appointment holders are pegged as a fixed ratio to the entry-level minister’s norm salary level.

Fixed and variable pay components

The annual salary is made up of fixed and variable pay components, Chan shared.

The fixed pay components comprise monthly salary and a 13th-month non-pensionable annual allowance, and make up 65 per cent of the total annual salary.

The remaining 35 per cent consists of variable pay tied to national economic indicators and individual performance.

The variable pay includes a national bonus determined by four socioeconomic indicators: real median income growth, real income growth of the lowest 20th percentile, the unemployment rate, and real gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

No national bonus is paid if the targets are not met.

Three months of bonus will be paid if the targets are met, or up to six months if targets are far exceeded.

The salary also includes an annual variable component, which is the same amount that all civil servants receive.

Between 2018 and 2024, it ranged between zero and one-and-a-half months, Chan noted.

The individual performance bonus may also range from zero to six months each year, as determined by the prime minister.

Refinements to framework

Meanwhile, based on the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)’s published data, incomes of Singapore citizen earners at the 20th percentile and at the median have conversely increased by 87 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively, since 2012, Chan noted.

The government has thus recently appointed an independent committee to recommend appropriate salaries and propose refinements to the framework, he said.

Top photo from Mothership