Employment Pass minimum pay rises to enable business growth and openings for locals

Singapore

THE minimum qualifying salaries for work passes of both foreign professionals and foreign mid-skilled workers will go up a second time this year.

The latest announcement is that, come Sept 1, the salary criteria for new Employment Pass (EP) applicants will be raised to S$4,500; that for S pass applicants will go up to S$2,500 from Oct 1.

The EP minimum qualifying salary in the financial services sector will be raised to S$5,000 from Dec 1 - the first time that qualifying salaries are set higher for a specific sector.

Details of these changes were unveiled on Thursday, a day after Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said the government would move to tighten its foreign workforce policies.

In a statement, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said the government has regularly updated the criteria for approving work passes "to enable businesses to grow as well as to support employment opportunities for locals". The new adjustments, which Mrs Teo described as "significant" in a virtual media interview, were made because the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic has weakened the job market and made the growth outlook uncertai…