A minimum wage is the lowest salary that employers are legally allowed to pay their employees. A national minimum wage will apply the same wage floor across the country, instead of having it only apply to certain industries. Unlike most of the developed countries such as UK and US, there is no minimum wage requirement in Singapore. Why Singapore does not have minimum wage and should it be implemented? These relevant questions have been main concern of citizens and always come up at every election. Workers’ party is proposing a “phased rollout” of a national minimum wage starting at S$1,000 a month to ensure the lower income families have ability to pay for their basic needs. However, PAP has countered opposition calls for minimum wage. Instead, Singapore government use a different approach which is flexible wage system. The recommended wage structure by the Singapore Government is 70:10:20. The ratio represents basic wage, monthly variable and annual variable components respectively. Basic wage constitutes the highest ratio and it allows employers to negotiate salaries and increment in salaries with their workers. In order to ensure employees’ welfare, government has strictly enforced laws to govern the payment and calculation of wages. For …show more content…
It not only allows maximization of welfare of employers and employees, but also promotes high productivity and achievement in overall economy. Although companies are given rights to remove part of the salary during economic downturn, monthly basic wages which are constant make sure every worker’s well-being. Singapore economy has embraced tough times such as the 1998 Asian financial crisis and Sars and flexible wage system has been proven to be successful policy. By cutting on AVC rate during bad times and rewarding employees who perform well during good times, employees can receive benefits while remain employed at the same