Singapore retail employees are in line for a pay rise in 2016, according to professional services firm Towers Watson.
The company is projecting a 4.5 per cent salary increase for Singaporeans working in retail following a 4.1 per cent average increase in the current year. Towers Watson says such a rise would be the largest in any employment sector in the city state.
The predictions are based on the result of the company’s bi-annual Asia Pacific Salary Survey, based on responses from 2000 employers in 22 countries in the region.
Overall, salaries in Singapore are tipped to rise 4.4 per cent next year but after the effect of inflation is taken into account, that drops to 2.9 per cent.
The next best industries to be working in – if you’re hoping for a pay rise next year – are technology and professional services, up 4.3 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively, (like the retail figure, before inflation is factored in).
Towers Watson says Singapore employers still place a heavy emphasis on individual performance when making salary decisions.
Sambhav Rakyan, data services practice leader for Asia-Pacific with Towers Watson, warned employers to be careful when calculating pay increases
“Determining current pay rates for jobs in Asia-Pacific’s highly competitive talent market is akin to shooting at a moving target. What companies pay for a job today might be different tomorrow, and if managers don’t keep an eye on the market, they could risk losing valuable talent to the competition.”
