Minimum wage and average salary in Singapore 2026

Singapore has no national minimum wage, but employers must comply with specific salary requirements under the Progressive Wage Model (PWM), Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) and work-pass rules.

As of 2026, the LQS is SGD 1,800 per month for full-time local employees at firms hiring foreign workers, while Employment Pass applicants outside financial services must meet a starting salary of SGD 5,600, with higher thresholds depending on age.

For salary benchmarking, Singapore’s median gross monthly income for full-time employed residents was SGD 5,775 in 2025, including employer CPF contributions. Employers should assess applicable wage floors, job-specific salary benchmarks, and upcoming rate changes before setting compensation for a Singapore hire.

Singapore has no general minimum wage. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the government department that sets and enforces employment rules, states that salary is a matter for negotiation between employer and employee, or the employee’s union. The Employment Act, Singapore’s main employment statute, does not set a minimum pay.

Pay floors still exist, aimed at particular jobs, workers and employers.

Three kinds set floors, and a related accreditation matters when pricing a role:

The Progressive Wage Model (PWM) sets minimum pay by job level and ties it to training and progression requirements. Employers it covers must pay each eligible worker at least the PWM wage for that worker’s job level.

As of 30 September 2026, seven sectors had PWMs: cleaning, security, landscape, lift and escalator, retail, food services and waste management.

Two occupational groups, administrators and drivers, have Occupational Progressive Wages (OPW), which apply to those roles across sectors. The floors mainly cover citizens and permanent residents employed under a contract of service, and an employer becomes bound in one of two ways:

• Cleaning, security, landscape, lift and escalator, and waste management bind licensed or registered businesses through their sector rules. Firms hiring foreign workers must also pay the floors to in-house cleaners, security officers and landscape staff.
• Retail, food services, administrators and drivers bind firms that hire foreign workers through those firms’ work-pass applications and renewals.

The table gives the entry role for each group, with its full-time monthly floor as at 30 September 2026 and next scheduled rate. Higher job levels have higher floors, so check MOM’s sector pages for the full ladder before pricing a role.

Basic wage is base pay alone. PWM gross wage adds allowances and productivity incentive payments to basic pay, and excludes overtime, bonuses, employer contributions to the Central Provident Fund (CPF, Singapore’s compulsory savings scheme), stock options, reimbursements and benefits in kind.

An in-house security officer at SGD 2,475 gross and an outsourced officer at SGD 3,090 basic are therefore measured differently. Most full-time floors assume 35 to 44 contractual hours a week, and part-time rates are generally published separately or pro-rated.

The administrator OPW ladder covers office roles. At a firm that hires foreign workers, a resident administrative executive must earn at least SGD 2,760 and an administrative supervisor at least SGD 3,340, both gross excluding overtime. Classify by the work actually done, because a job title alone does not decide the level.

The Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) is the pay floor for local employees outside the PWM and OPW ladders at firms that employ foreign workers on a Work Permit, S Pass or Employment Pass. From 1 July 2026, it is SGD 1,800 gross a month for a full-time local working 35 to 44 hours a week, up from SGD 1,600. A part-timer working under 35 hours a week must earn at least SGD 10.50 gross an hour.

The LQS also decides how local employees count toward a firm’s quota of foreign workers:

• A citizen or permanent resident earning at least SGD 1,800 a month counts as one local worker.
• A citizen or permanent resident earning at least SGD 900 but below SGD 1,800 counts as half a local worker.

As a worked example, take an illustrative firm with three local staff: two full-timers on SGD 4,000 and SGD 1,800, and a part-timer paid SGD 1,200 a month. The two full-timers each count as one. The part-timer earns more than SGD 900 but less than SGD 1,800, so counts as half. The firm’s local headcount for quota purposes is 2.5.

Foreign candidates face a separate test: the qualifying salary for their pass. As of 30 September 2026, an Employment Pass outside financial services starts at SGD 5,600 a month and an S Pass at SGD 3,300, both rising with age and higher in financial services. For new applications from 1 January 2027, these starting points rise to SGD 6,000 and SGD 3,600. The Singapore hiring guide gives the full age tables.

MOM publishes several pay figures, and each answers a different question. Before quoting one, check who is counted, whether employer CPF and bonuses are included, and whether the figure is a median or a mean.

MOM’s 2025 labour force report puts the median for full-time employed residents at SGD 5,775 including employer CPF. The median is the midpoint: half earn more and half earn less. The mean adds up all income and divides by the number of earners, so a few high earners pull it upward. MOM advises using the median to describe a typical worker.

The SGD 6,605 and SGD 7,198 figures cover different people and treat bonuses and CPF differently, so they cannot be read as a trend. For budgeting, the employer pays CPF contributions on top of the agreed salary, at the rates in the guide to Singapore employer taxes.

To price one role, MOM’s Occupational Wage tables are more useful than a national median. Released on 30 June 2026, they use June 2025 as the reference month and cover more than 500 occupations. Each gives the median, 25th and 75th percentile of monthly basic and gross wages, generally for full-time resident employees. Gross wages in these tables exclude bonuses and employer CPF.

These are market benchmarks with no legal force. The tables also split common occupations by industry, so check the row for the hire’s industry as well. The percentiles show the spread, which helps when a role is junior or senior for its title.

MOM’s Report on Wage Practices 2025, released on 28 May 2026, found that total wages including employer CPF, rose 4.9% in 2025. The figure covers full-time resident employees who stayed with the same employer for at least a year, and was down from 5.6% in 2024. After inflation, wages grew 4.0% in 2025, up from 3.2%.

The median gives a second view of the same year. It rose from SGD 5,500 in 2024 to SGD 5,775 in 2025, an increase of SGD 275. SGD 275 divided by SGD 5,500 gives a 5.0% rise. MOM puts the inflation-adjusted median rise at 4.3%, a preliminary figure. The wage-practices series follows employees who stayed in their jobs. The median follows the middle of the whole distribution.

MOM expected wage growth after inflation to stay positive in 2026, with firms measured in their pay rises. The consultancy WTW reported actual increases of 3.9% in 2026 and projected 4.0% for 2027, and the consultancy Mercer projected 4.0% for 2026. These are employer surveys, separate from MOM’s statistics.

To apply a projected rise, multiply the current salary by it: an illustrative salary of SGD 6,000 raised by 4.0% increases by SGD 240, to SGD 6,240.

A Singapore salary is defensible when it clears every floor that applies and matches the market for the actual job. Four facts decide which floors apply: the worker’s residency, the job’s scope and sector, whether the employer hires foreign workers, and whether the candidate needs a work pass.

1. Confirm whether the worker is a Singapore citizen or permanent resident, or a foreign candidate who needs a work pass.
2. Compare the actual duties, not the job title, with every PWM and OPW job definition.
3. Identify how a floor would be enforced: sector licensing or registration, or the employer’s use of foreign workers.
4. Apply the right pay measure: basic wage, gross wage excluding overtime, or the fixed monthly salary used for work passes. The wrong measure may leave pay below the floor.
5. Check hours and training, because full-time, part-time and overtime pay are calculated differently and PWM jobs often require set training.
6. Apply the LQS to any local employee outside the PWM and OPW ladders when the employer hires foreign workers.
7. Benchmark pay against the June 2025 Occupational Wage tables for the role and industry.
8. Mark the scheduled changes in the calendar: work-pass floors for new applications rise on 1 January 2027, and PWM rates change on 1 January, 1 July or 1 September depending on the sector.