Wage growth slowed for Singapore workers in 2025, expected to stay moderate in 2026: MOM

More establishments kept wages unchanged – 24.5 per cent in 2025, up from 18.5 per cent in 2024.

Where wage increases were granted last year, the increments averaged 5.8 per cent.

This reflects that employers showed signs of greater prudence in wage changes for 2025, said MOM.

Employee retention remained the most commonly cited reason for raising wages.

Only 3.1 per cent of firms cut wages, down slightly from 3.2 per cent in 2024.

The firms that cut wages generally experienced weaker business performance than in 2024.

Where there were wage cuts, the reductions averaged 3.7 per cent.

The National Wages Council’s recommendation for December 2024 to November 2025 was for employers to reward employees with fair and sustainable wage increases, taking into account sustained productivity growth over the long term.

The council said that employers who have done well should reward their employees with built-in wage increases and variable payments.

According to the MOM data on Thursday, 79.4 per cent of firms that were profitable and did much better than the previous year raised wages in 2025. The remaining 18.1 per cent cut employees’ wages, and 2.5 per cent did not change wages.

Among firms that were profitable and did as well as the previous year, 76.3 per cent raised wages, while 22.6 per cent cut wages and 1.1 per cent kept them the same.

Asked by reporters at a briefing why some profitable firms did not raise salaries, apart from greater prudence, Mr Ang Boon Heng, director of MOM’s manpower research and statistics department, said that some employers feel they are already paying their employees at the industry benchmark.