Civil servants will get year-end bonus of one month's pay; lower-wage workers to get $1,800

SINGAPORE - The Civil Service, Singapore's largest employer, will pay civil servants a year-end Annual Variable Component (AVC) of one month's pay - the same as last year.

The year-end AVC is added to what is commonly known as the 13th-month payment to make up the full year-end bonus in December.

Lower-wage civil servants, which number around 1,380, will get a minimum year-end AVC of $1,800. For example, an officer earning a monthly salary of $1,500 will get $1,800, which is $300 more than what he would get if it was pegged to his one-month salary.

Announcing this on Friday (Nov 23), the Public Service Division said the quantum of the AVC was decided after close consultation with the public sector unions, and comes against a backdrop of the labour market improving in the first half of this year, with total employment growing, more job vacancies available and retrenchments declining.

In July this year, civil servants received a mid-year AVC of 0.5 month and a one-off lump sum payment of $300, with a higher lump sum of $500 for lower-wage civil servants in Grades IV and V of the Operations Support Scheme. Together with the mid-year AVC, civil servants will receive a full-year AVC of 1.5 months.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.