SINGAPORE: Lower-wage food services workers, from drink stall assistants to waiters and cooks, will receive the first of a series of pay rises from July 1.
This is part of the latest rollout of the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) for the food services sector, which covers more than 53,000 full-time and part-time workers operating in food establishments, caterers and central kitchens.
Of these, about 15,000 full-time food services workers will have their monthly salaries raised to at least S$2,220, said a spokesperson for the Manpower Ministry.
Full-time workers earning at least S$2,080 per month will qualify for mandatory pay hikes of S$140 – a rise of up to 6.7% a year – over the next three years.
For example, a drink stall assistant with a monthly gross wage of S$2,080 today will earn S$2,500 by July 2028.
People in jobs with more responsibilities, such as waiter supervisors, can receive a slightly higher annual increment of S$145 – or up to 5% – for the next three years.
Part-timers, defined as those who clock fewer than 35 hours a week, will also benefit from the scheme.
Their hourly gross salary will be pro-rated based on a 44-hour work week. For instance, a part-time food services worker earning S$10.91 an hour in March 2026 will receive an hourly pay of S$13.11 by July 2028.
The ministry said on Monday that it has accepted the latest proposal to raise the wages of food services workers by a tripartite work group comprising representatives from the government, unions, industry associations and employers.
This is the second set of wage increases for the food services sector, which first implemented PWM in 2023. Workers have so far benefited from a three-year schedule of sustained baseline wage increases of up to 19% from 2023 to 2025.
During a visit to the Swensen’s outlet at Changi Airport Terminal 2, Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash said a key purpose of the latest move is to reduce the wage disparity gap, making sure that lower-wage workers at the bottom 20% of the spectrum do not “deviate too far” from those in the 50th percentile or higher.
“What we don’t want to see is a divergence between the wages that the lowest of our workers are earning vis-a-vis the rest of Singaporean workers.”
PWM, introduced in 2014, seeks to uplift lower-wage workers in Singapore through wage progression that could in turn help companies attract talent and ensure better work prospects for workers.
So far, the model has been introduced in sectors such as landscape maintenance and security.
However, the latest changes will take place amid an uncertain economic climate with firms facing high operating costs.
At the same time, employers here have flagged the “perennial challenge” of attracting locals to the industry, according to a report by the Tripartite Cluster for Food Services Industry released on Monday.
This has led to “very lean” operational teams and workers having to put in long hours to fulfil business needs, the work group noted.
The work group had carried out several rounds of consultations with employers and unions, and also surveyed 300 food services workers from October to December 2025.
The decision on pay increments was made with careful consideration of industry challenges, while keeping in mind the commitment to uplift the industry and improve the welfare of food services workers, said the work group.
Dinesh noted that the S$140 to S$145 annual pay increments are reasonable and robust, while the ministry continues to keep watch on the economy.
Other recommendations from the work group include reviewing job descriptions and expanding the list of training modules under the Workforce Skills Qualification framework. Under PWM, workers need to complete two such modules.
To meet the minimum training requirements, those who hold relevant qualifications from institutes of higher learning and private education institutions will also be recognised.
From July, food services workers who take short training courses will also receive a higher training allowance of S$10.50 an hour, up from S$6 an hour.
This is an enhancement of the basic tier of the Workfare Skills Support scheme that aims to encourage workers earning not more than S$3,000 monthly to take up new skills. — The Straits Times/ANN
