Does Singapore have the lowest monthly minimum wage and highest prime minister's salary in the world?
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on May 22, 2019 at 06:30
- 4 min read
- By AFP Singapore
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The two infographics were shared in this Facebook post by a page with more than 57,000 followers on May 1.
Below is a screenshot of the post:
The Facebook caption says: “Happy Labor Day!"
The first infographic shows a graph comparing the monthly minimum wage in selected countries.
Below is a screenshot of the infographic:
The infographic is misleading; Singapore does not have a minimum wage law.
This page on an official website for Ministry of Manpower within the Singapore government website states: “Singapore does not have a minimum wage. Your salary is subject to negotiation and agreement between your employer and you or your trade union.”
A reverse image search on Google found the infographic in the misleading Facebook post was captured from this Singaporean blog published on September 22, 2014.
Below is a screenshot of the infographic on the blog:
The title above the blog’s infographic states the monthly minimum wages were calculated for 2013. The date was not included in the misleading Facebook post.
The text above the blog’s infographic states: “The PAP government has refused to set a minimum wage to protect Singaporeans but the $1,000 they are finally willing to give to cleaners can be seen as a de facto minimum wage. But even then, this is only $1,000.”
This text refers to Singapore’s Progressive Wage Model, which applies to workers in the cleaning, security and landscape sectors. This page on the Ministry of Manpower’s website gives details of the model.
According to this page on the Ministry of Manpower’s website, minimum wage rates have been enforced for those working in the aforementioned sectors.
Below is a screenshot of the minimum wages of outsourced resident cleaners as of July 2018:
The government web page states “General/indoor cleaners” in an office or commercial environment must be paid at least SGD$1,120 per month.
The second infographic in the misleading Facebook post appears to show Singapore’s prime minister receives the highest salary of any world leader, but the figure cited in the misleading post is not up-to-date.
Below is a screenshot of the infographic:
The infographic states Lee Hsien Loong’s salary was USD$1,700,000 in 2015.
“Lee Hsien Loong” refers to the prime minister of Singapore. This is his official Twitter page.
A Google keyword search found the second infographic in the misleading post was taken from this report by Statista, a German online statistics portal.
Below is a screenshot of the report:
The Statista infographic states Lee Hsien Loong’s salary was USD$1,700,000 in 2015, which is equal to SGD$2.3 million according to this conversion rate.
In May 2019, Singapore’s Public Service Division stated here that Lee’s salary was SGD$2.2million.
Below is a screenshot of the statement:
This AFP report published on March 1, 2018, also stated Lee’s salary was SGD$2.2million.
In this report published by US-based financial news site Wall Street 24/7 on April 16, 2019, Lee was listed as the highest paid world leader.
The report states here that the list excluded “leaders of absolute monarchies such as Qatar, Brunei Darussalam, and Saudi Arabia”.
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