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1. The National Wages Council (NWC), a tripartite body made up of employer, employee and government representatives1, will reconvene on 6 September 2021 to develop its annual guidelines on wage and employment-related issues from 1 December 2021 to 30 November 2022.
2. The Council had issued the NWC 2020/2021 Guidelines in March 2020 and Supplementary Guidelines in October 2020. When the Council convened earlier this year, the tripartite partners agreed to extend the NWC 2020/2021 Guidelines and Supplementary Guidelines. There was consensus that the prevailing guidance remained relevant, given the uncertainties around the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic recovery appears uneven. Hence, the Council issued an Addendum2 to extend the NWC 2020/2021 Guidelines and Supplementary Guidelines to 30 November 2021 and emphasised that employers should re-evaluate their business situation and how the prevailing guidelines would apply to them. The Council also said in the Addendum that it would incorporate the recommendations from the Tripartite Workgroup on Lower-Wage Workers (TWG-LWW) when it reconvenes later this year.
3. The TWG-LWW has since recommended for the NWC to set out annual guidance on the range of Progressive Wage growth for lower-wage workers. This will guide the negotiations of the Tripartite Clusters that oversee the sectoral Progressive Wage Models. The NWC will also recommend the wage levels for Occupational Progressive Wages, along with the accompanying skills and training requirements.
4. In its deliberations, the Council will take into account the domestic and global economic situation and outlook, as well as the latest developments in our public health measures, with the aim to release its updated guidelines by end-October.
5. NWC Chairman, Peter Seah said, “Given that the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic appears more certain, it is important for NWC to review the economic and labour market outlook for this year and make relevant recommendations. The NWC will also incorporate the recommendations by the Tripartite Workgroup on Lower-Wage Workers and issue new recommendations from this year. I look forward to the fruitful discussions between the tripartite partners in the coming weeks.”
6. The Council welcomes the public to share their views on wage-related issues and suggestions on the upcoming guidelines. Feedback can be submitted to the NWC Secretariat through the online form via the link, which will be open until 14 September 2021.
Feedback Form: go.gov.sg/nwc-feedback
1 The list of reconvened NWC 2021/2022 members is in the Annex.
2 The NWC 2021/2022 Addendum, NWC 2020/2021 Guidelines and Supplementary Guidelines can be found at http://go.gov.sg/nwcaddendum, http://www.mom.gov.sg/nwc and http://go.gov.sg/nwcsupguidelines respectively.
