Hiring in Singapore

A foreign company can hire in Singapore through its own local entity, an employer of record for an eligible employee arrangement, or a contractor providing genuinely independent services. S$5,000 / month (median) is the 2025 full-time employed resident median excluding employer/platform CPF; the nominal 0.25% Skills Development Levy (SDL), with a S$2 floor and S$11.25 cap per employee, is only part of employer cost because CPF applies to qualifying citizens and PRs by age and PR year, while foreign employees are exempt from CPF. For genuinely independent services, 4dev.com is a global contractor platform working with contractors in Singapore.

Three ways to hire in Singapore

Your choice depends on who employs the worker and whether the services are genuinely independent. Employee status and pass category determine payroll duties; a contractor label alone does not settle the relationship. Any IP transfer in an independent-services contract depends on its terms.

Route	Legal employer	What you pay on top of salary	How you end it
Your own entity	Your Singapore entity	The nominal 0.25% SDL, subject to the S$2 floor and S$11.25 cap per employee; CPF where the employee qualifies as a citizen or PR, and a levy only where the S Pass or Work Permit category applies.	The contractual notice term; where there is no term, the default is 1 day – 4 weeks.
Employer of record	The EOR under its contract of service with the worker	The nominal 0.25% SDL, subject to the S$2 floor and S$11.25 cap per employee; CPF and any foreign-worker levy depend on the worker’s status and pass category.	The employment agreement and the applicable notice rules; where there is no term, the default is 1 day – 4 weeks.
Contractor	No legal employer: the contractor performs services under a contract for service	The agreed contract price and the contractor’s own arrangements; this route depends on the actual independent relationship.	The contract-specific termination clause.

MOM recognises a worker employed under a contract of service with an EOR as an employee with Employment Act entitlements even when that worker performs work for the EOR’s client. A different fact pattern applies when an EOR seeks a work pass for a foreigner to be based in Singapore while working for an overseas company: MOM says that would be an offence, and points the overseas company toward its own regular work-pass route through local presence. Assess the employing entity, work beneficiary and pass route for the proposed arrangement.

An employment-agency licence is a separate, activity-based question. MOM lists recruiting solely for one’s own employment and outsourcing one’s own staff to customers’ premises among activities that do not need that licence; placement or matching activity has to be assessed on its own facts. The EA Directory can check an agency listing, but a directory result does not determine the legality of a proposed arrangement.

The Singapore labour market

Use the population and pay measure that fit the role when building an offer. The resident median and occupation figures below describe different groups and pay bundles. Linda Teo, Country Manager at ManpowerGroup Singapore, expects selective hiring:

Against this backdrop, hiring is likely to be selective, focused on roles and skills that support digitalisation and structural transformation,

— Linda Teo, Country Manager, ManpowerGroup Singapore

Salary reference points

2025 median monthly income, full-time employed residents, excluding employer/platform CPF	S$5,000 / month (median)	MOM Labour Force 2025
2025 median monthly income, full-time employed residents, including employer/platform CPF	S$5,775 / month	MOM Labour Force 2025
June 2025 median gross wage, full-time resident software developers across all industries	S$7,808 / month	MOM Occupational Wages 2025
June 2025 75th-percentile gross wage, full-time resident software developers across all industries	S$11,092 / month	MOM Occupational Wages 2025
June 2025 median gross wage, full-time resident business development managers across all industries	S$10,000 / month	MOM Occupational Wages 2025

The S$5,000 resident median excludes employer/platform CPF; the S$5,775 median includes it. The occupational figures are gross wages for full-time residents across all industries, excluding employer CPF and bonuses. S$11,092 is the software-developer 75th percentile and supports a higher-pay budget scenario; it is not an average.

Registering as an employer, step by step

For a direct hire through a local company, incorporation produces the UEN needed for Corppass and, where CPF is due, a CPF Submission Number. Each step has its own timing; the sequence does not establish a fixed first-hire date.

Step	What happens	Takes
Reserve name and register the local company	Reserve the name, then register through Bizfile.	Most registrations are approved soon after payment; complex applications can take up to 15 working days, and referral-authority cases 14–60 days.
Receive UEN and Business Profile	A successful incorporation produces the Unique Entity Number and Business Profile.	Follows successful incorporation.
Apply for Corppass	Apply for the government-to-business login after receiving the UEN.	One day after UEN receipt.
Obtain a CPF Submission Number	Give authorised users access in Corppass, then apply for a CSN before making mandatory CPF contributions.	CSN approval is the prerequisite for CPF submission.
Set up CPF EZPay	Submit CPF contributions through CPF EZPay once the CSN is approved.	The next calendar day after CSN approval.
Join the Auto-Inclusion Scheme where required	Register for IRAS AIS if the employer has five or more employees or receives an IRAS notice.	Conditional; it is not a prerequisite for every first employee.

The CSN and EZPay steps apply when mandatory CPF contributions are due. AIS has a separate headcount or IRAS-notice trigger. Set the payroll schedule after the relevant approvals, because incorporation and CPF processing times depend on the application.

Hiring and onboarding

Check the worker’s right to work and record the employment arrangement before the role begins. Written key employment terms are due within 14 days after the first day; payroll and insurance checks have their own triggers.

Legal limits on the employment agreement

The written terms should cover salary, work arrangements, leave, probation and notice. Probation: Contractual. Where the agreement does not set a notice term, the Employment Act default applies during probation, and employer and employee notice periods must be the same. Check whether Employment Act Part IV rules belong in the arrangement: they cover non-workmen with basic monthly salaries up to S$2,600 and workmen up to S$4,500, while managers and executives fall outside Part IV.

Onboarding checklist

• Confirm the worker’s right to work and the applicable pass route where relevant before the role starts.
• Retain the signed employment terms and issue the written KETs within 14 days of the first day of work.
• Identify CPF and SDL status: qualifying citizens and PRs earning more than S$50 monthly require CPF contributions, while foreign employees are exempt from CPF; obtain a CSN before making mandatory CPF contributions.
• Set the payroll cycle for salary at least monthly and within seven days after the salary period; overtime pay is due within 14 days.
• Check work injury compensation insurance: it is required for manual workers at any salary and for non-manual employees earning S$2,600 or less a month, whether local or foreign.

A signed agreement does not determine CPF status or insurance eligibility, and payroll setup does not replace a required pass assessment. Check each against the worker and role.

When a foreign hire needs a work pass

A foreign hire needs the pass route that fits the employer, role and candidate; meeting a salary threshold is an eligibility condition, not a pass approval. Use the current 2026 figures for a current hire, and keep the announced 2027 changes in a separate budget and renewal plan.

Employment Pass, 2026	At age 23, the general-sector fixed monthly salary starts at S$5,600 and financial services at S$6,200; both rise with age. Most applicants must also reach 40 COMPASS points.	MOM Employment Pass eligibility
S Pass, 2026	The general-sector fixed monthly salary starts at S$3,300 at age 23 and rises with age; the financial-services floor is higher. The quota is 10% of the workforce in services and 15% in construction, manufacturing, marine shipyard and process sectors; the monthly levy is S$650.	MOM S Pass eligibility; MOM S Pass quota and levy
Work Permit	The levy varies by sector, tier and skill level; the March 2026 manufacturing table ranges from S$250 to S$650 per month.	MOM Work Permit levy table
Application response	MOM processes or gives an update on an online Employment Pass application within 10 business days. For an overseas company without a Singapore-registered company, the stated timeframe is about six weeks in most cases.	MOM Employment Pass application

The processing windows are response or update windows, not an earliest-start commitment. COMPASS exemptions are separate from the ordinary salary baseline and can apply to candidates meeting the specified high fixed-monthly-salary threshold, eligible intra-corporate transferees and roles lasting one month or less.

From 1 January 2027, new Employment Pass applications start at S$6,000 in the general sector and S$6,600 in financial services at age 23; Employment Pass renewals move to those baselines for passes expiring from 1 January 2028. New S Pass applications then start at S$3,600 in the general sector and S$4,000 in financial services at age 23, with the same renewal trigger. Those are future qualifying-salary changes, not figures for a 2026 payroll illustration.

The EOR question has a narrower boundary than general work-pass eligibility. MOM says an EOR would commit an offence if it applied for a work pass for a foreigner to be based in Singapore while working for an overseas company; for a longer-term Singapore base, MOM points that company to its own regular work-pass route through local presence, including incorporation or a representative-office route. This does not describe every EOR employee arrangement or establish sponsorship for any proposed hire; see the Singapore employer of record guide for the separate model analysis.

Minimum wage: which Singapore rule applies?

No general minimum wage applies in Singapore. Pay is negotiated, while particular roles, employers and pass applications can trigger separate wage tests.

Negotiated ordinary salary	Salary is agreed between the employer and employee, subject to the targeted rules below.	MOM salary FAQ
Progressive Wage Model (PWM)	Covered sectors and occupations carry wage and training requirements, including cleaning, security, landscaping, retail, food services, waste management, administrators and drivers.	MOM Progressive Wage Model
Local Qualifying Salary (LQS)	From 1 July 2026, firms hiring foreign workers must pay local full-time workers S$1,800 a month or local part-time workers S$10.50 an hour for the LQS test.	MOM 2026 lower-wage factsheet
Employment Pass or S Pass salary test	The individual applicant must meet the applicable age- and sector-based fixed-salary eligibility criteria.	MOM Employment Pass eligibility; MOM S Pass eligibility

LQS determines how a firm hiring foreign workers counts its local workforce: a local employee paid at least S$1,800 a month counts as one, while S$900 to below S$1,800 counts as 0.5. On 1 July 2026, the full-time threshold rose from S$1,600 to S$1,800; the part-time threshold is S$10.50 an hour. PWM, LQS and pass salary tests can apply together, and meeting one does not satisfy the others.

Taxes and contributions

Singapore employer charges depend on the employee’s citizenship or PR status, age, wage type and pass category. Resident individual income tax is progressive from 0–24% of chargeable income; non-resident employment income is taxed at 15% or the progressive resident result, whichever is higher. Income tax is separate from employer cost: the nominal 0.25% SDL rate is only one employer charge, with CPF and pass-specific levies applying where relevant.

CPF is compulsory for Singapore citizens and PRs earning more than S$50 a month, while foreign employees are exempt. From the third PR year, the standard citizen rates apply; for a worker aged 55 or below earning more than S$750 a month, the 2026 employer rate is 17%, while the standard employer rate steps down to 16%, 12.5%, 9% and 7.5% in the older age bands. First- and second-year PRs instead use their separate standard graduated tables, unless an approved higher-rate election applies.

The CPF Ordinary Wage ceiling is S$8,000 a month from 1 January 2026. Additional Wages have a separate annual ceiling: S$102,000 less the year’s Ordinary Wages subject to CPF, so a bonus cannot simply be treated as another uncapped month of Ordinary Wages. SDL applies to every employee working in Singapore, including foreign employees, at 0.25% of monthly total wages, with a S$2 minimum below S$800 and a S$11.25 maximum above S$4,500; employers sum the employee amounts for the payroll and round the total down to whole dollars for remittance.

An S Pass holder brings a separate S$650 monthly levy, and a Work Permit levy depends on sector, tier and skill level; those are not charges for every employee or for an Employment Pass holder. An employer needs a CPF Submission Number before contributing, CPF is due by month end and enforcement follows non-payment by the 14th of the next month. Salary is due at least monthly and within seven days after the salary period, while overtime pay is due within 14 days.

What an employee actually costs you

The following illustrations keep the cost base comparable: monthly Ordinary Wages only, no bonus or Additional Wages, and SDL shown as the per-employee pre-remittance allocation. The S$5,000 scenario uses the 2025 full-time employed resident median excluding employer or platform-operator CPF; the role figures are June 2025 gross wages for full-time residents across all industries. The Employment Pass row is a payroll illustration only: it does not predict pass approval or imply EOR work-pass sponsorship.

Citizen, age 55 or below — S$5,000.00 2025 resident median	Employer contributions: S$861.25 (17.22% of gross); S$5,861.25 monthly; S$70,335.00 annual	MOM Labour Force 2025; CPF rate table 2026; CPF SDL guidance
Citizen, age 55 or below — S$10,000.00 business development manager median	Employer contributions: S$1,371.25 (13.71% of gross); S$11,371.25 monthly; S$136,455.00 annual	MOM Occupational Wages 2025; CPF rate table 2026; CPF SDL guidance
Employment Pass holder — S$10,000.00 business development manager median	Employer contributions: S$11.25 (0.11% of gross); S$10,011.25 monthly; S$120,135.00 annual	MOM Occupational Wages 2025; CPF SDL guidance
Citizen, age 55 or below — S$11,092.00 software developer 75th percentile	Employer contributions: S$1,371.25 (12.36% of gross); S$12,463.25 monthly; S$149,559.00 annual	MOM Occupational Wages 2025; CPF rate table 2026; CPF SDL guidance

The S$11,092.00 developer reference is a 75th-percentile gross wage, not an average. At S$10,000.00 and S$11,092.00, the Ordinary Wage ceiling is why the citizen scenarios have the same S$1,371.25 contribution amount despite different salary benchmarks; the annual Additional Wage ceiling would matter only if an actual payment is Additional Wages.

The first two PR years change the budget

At the same S$5,000.00 monthly Ordinary Wage, employer cost changes in a PR’s first two years. The table uses standard graduated rates for workers aged 55 or below, with no higher- or full-rate election, bonus or Additional Wages. Each row includes the S$11.25 SDL allocation before payroll-wide whole-dollar rounding.

Citizen or PR from year three, age 55 or below	Employer contributions: S$861.25; S$5,861.25 monthly; S$70,335.00 annual	CPF rate table 2026; CPF SDL guidance
First-year PR, age 55 or below	Employer CPF: S$200.00; S$5,211.25 monthly; S$62,535.00 annual	CPF rate table 2026; CPF SDL guidance
Second-year PR, age 55 or below	Employer CPF: S$450.00; S$5,461.25 monthly; S$65,535.00 annual	CPF rate table 2026; CPF SDL guidance

The resident median describes pay, not a standard hiring budget. Each illustration excludes benefits and provider costs, which can add to an actual offer.

What caps change at higher salaries

At gross monthly pay of S$10,000.00 or S$11,092.00, the S$8,000 Ordinary Wage ceiling holds employer CPF to the same base, while SDL has reached its S$11.25 per-employee cap. The two citizen rows therefore share S$1,371.25 in employer contributions; their total costs differ with gross pay. The S$10,000.00 Employment Pass illustration has SDL but no CPF, and the S Pass and Work Permit levies do not apply to that row.

Thirteenth-month pay, insurance and other benefits

An Annual Wage Supplement (AWS), often called a 13th-month payment, is not compulsory unless an employment contract or collective agreement requires it. An agreed bonus or AWS can be binding, but the Ordinary-Wage-only cost illustrations above include neither.

Work injury compensation insurance is a different category: the employer must insure every employee doing manual work and every non-manual employee earning S$2,600 or less a month, whether the employee is local or foreign. The obligation concerns insurance cover for that defined group, rather than a standard benefits allowance that can be added to every salary benchmark.

Statutory leave and insurance obligations sit alongside the employment agreement. Health cover, bonuses and other contractual benefits depend on the terms offered, so budget them separately from compulsory insurance and any AWS clause.

Working time and overtime

Employment Act Part IV coverage determines which employees receive statutory hours and overtime protections. MOM’s hours, overtime and rest-day guidance sets the thresholds and pay rules for those employees.

Who qualifies for statutory overtime

Part IV covers non-workmen with basic monthly salaries of S$2,600 or less and workmen with basic monthly salaries of S$4,500 or less. Managers and executives are outside Part IV, so an employer should not assume that its statutory overtime rate and hour limits govern those roles merely because they are employees. The contractual working-hours and overtime terms still matter for work outside that Part IV scope.

For a covered employee, normal contractual hours are capped at 44 a week. The daily limit is generally nine hours where the employee works at most five days a week, or eight hours where the employee works more than five days a week.

Overtime for a Part IV employee must be paid at least 1.5 times the hourly basic rate. It is generally capped at 72 hours in a month, subject to an exemption, so the monthly figure is not an unconditional allowance to schedule extra work. Both the overtime rate and the cap apply within the Part IV framework described above.

MOM separately confirmed in September 2026 that all outsourced Progressive Wage Model security job rungs had moved outside Part IV because their basic wage schedules exceed the threshold. That clarification is specific to those outsourced PWM security rungs; it does not create a general rule for every security, PWM or other professional role.

Leave, sick pay and parental leave

Statutory leave depends on service and, for family leave, child-status conditions. Check the qualifying rule alongside each entitlement.

Annual leave and public holidays

An Employment Act employee qualifies for paid annual leave after three months of service. The statutory minimum is 7–14 days: seven days in the first year, increasing by one day each year until it reaches 14 days from the eighth year.

Employment Act employees are entitled to 11 days of paid public holidays each year, subject to the conditions governing holiday pay or a substitute day. MOM’s 2026 calendar lists 11 gazetted public holidays and the substitute-day rules, so a holiday falling on a rest day should be handled under those rules rather than assumed to create the same outcome for every work pattern.

Paid annual leave	7 days in year one, rising by one day yearly to 14 days from year eight; after three months’ service	MOM Annual leave eligibility and entitlement
Paid public holidays	11 days each year; holiday-pay or substitute-day conditions apply	MOM Public holidays entitlement and pay; MOM Public holidays for 2026

Sick leave and family leave

After at least three months of service, an Employment Act employee can qualify for paid outpatient and hospitalisation sick leave; the entitlement is prorated until six months of service. At full entitlement, it is 14 outpatient days and 60 hospitalisation days inclusive. The inclusive treatment matters: the 60-day figure is not an additional 60 days on top of the outpatient allowance.

An eligible working mother has 16 weeks of Government-Paid Maternity Leave for a Singapore-citizen child after at least three months of continuous service. Where the Government-Paid Maternity Leave criteria are not met, a 12-week Employment Act maternity-leave route applies. Eligible working fathers can receive up to four weeks of Government-Paid Paternity Leave, subject to the Singapore-citizen child, marriage and three-month-service tests.

For Singapore-citizen children born from 1 April 2026, eligible parents can share 10 weeks of paid parental leave, provided the employee has three months of continuous service. The service and child-status tests determine which family-leave route applies.

Paid sick leave	14 outpatient days; 60 hospitalisation days inclusive after the qualifying service period, with prorating until six months	MOM Sick leave eligibility and entitlement
Government-Paid Maternity Leave	16 weeks for an eligible working mother of a Singapore-citizen child after three months’ continuous service	MOM Maternity leave eligibility and entitlement
Government-Paid Paternity Leave	Up to four weeks, subject to citizenship, marriage and service tests	MOM Paternity leave
Shared parental leave	10 weeks for eligible parents of Singapore-citizen children born from 1 April 2026; three months’ continuous service	MOM Shared parental leave

Termination: notice and payments

Termination starts with the notice provision in the employment contract. If the contract contains no notice term, the statutory default is 1 day – 4 weeks, determined by service length; that same default also applies during probation when no specific probation notice term exists. Employer and employee notice periods must be equal, and either party may use salary in lieu under the applicable conditions set out in MOM’s termination guidance.

Less than 26 weeks’ service	1 day’s notice where the contract is silent	MOM Termination with notice
26 weeks to less than 2 years	1 week’s notice where the contract is silent	MOM Termination with notice
2 years to less than 5 years	2 weeks’ notice where the contract is silent	MOM Termination with notice
5 years or more	4 weeks’ notice where the contract is silent	MOM Termination with notice

For a resignation where the employee serves the required notice, final salary is due on the last day of employment. If the employee resigns without serving the notice, it may be paid within seven days of the last day. The contractual notice term still determines what the employee must serve.

Retrenchment has its own benefit and notification rules. Employees with at least two years’ service are eligible for retrenchment benefits under MOM guidance, but the amount depends on the contract or collective agreement; the prevailing negotiated norm is two weeks to one month’s salary for each year of service. A Singapore-registered employer with at least 10 employees must notify MOM within five working days after telling any employee about the retrenchment.

Dismissal without just or sufficient cause can be wrongful, including where it is discriminatory or intended to deprive an employee of benefits. A wrongful-dismissal claim should generally be filed with TADM within one month after the last day; an Employment Claims Tribunals finding can result in reinstatement with lost pay or monetary compensation. The remedy depends on the tribunal’s finding.

If a role is moved or removed

Moving a role or presenting another position should be reviewed against the contract, the business need and the alternatives offered, rather than treated as a substitute for the applicable termination process. Nicolas Tang describes part of that case-specific review:

whether the employment contract contains a mobility or relocation clause, whether the relocation is reasonable and genuinely necessary

— Nicolas Tang, Managing Director and lawyer, Farallon Law

His observation is a practitioner checklist from a broader assessment, not a legal holding or an exhaustive test.

Retirement and re-employment

Retirement and re-employment protections apply to qualifying Singapore citizens and PRs. Age alone does not determine whether the employment can end.

What changes at ages 64 and 69

From 1 July 2026, the minimum retirement age for Singapore citizens and PRs is 64. A qualifying employee has re-employment protection through age 69 under MOM’s re-employment guidance. Review citizenship or PR status and the qualifying conditions before making a retirement decision.

CPF contribution bands answer a separate payroll question. From 1 January 2026, the standard employer CPF rate is 16% for ages above 55–60, 12.5% for ages 60–65, 9% for ages 65–70 and 7.5% above 70. Those age bands affect employer contributions; they do not define the retirement or qualifying re-employment obligation.

Recent changes

The 2026 CPF, leave, wage and retirement changes already affect current hires. The Workplace Fairness Act implementation and new pass salary baselines have later dates.

Changes already in effect

• 1 January 2026 — CPF. The Ordinary Wage ceiling became S$8,000 a month, while the annual CPF wage ceiling remains S$102,000 and the Additional Wage ceiling is the annual ceiling less Ordinary Wages subject to CPF. For citizens and PRs from year three aged 55 or below with monthly wages above S$750, the standard employer and employee rates are 17% and 20%; older-worker employer rates are 16%, 12.5%, 9% and 7.5% across the stated age bands. A payroll review therefore needs the employee’s status, PR year, age and wage mix rather than one headline percentage.
• 1 April 2026 — shared parental leave. Eligible parents of a Singapore-citizen child born from this date can share 10 weeks of paid parental leave, provided the employee has three months of continuous service. This entitlement has its own child and service conditions.
• 1 July 2026 — Local Qualifying Salary and retirement. For local workers at firms hiring foreign workers, the full-time LQS is S$1,800 a month and the part-time threshold is S$10.50 an hour; S$900 to below S$1,800 counts as 0.5 of the local workforce, while S$1,800 or more counts as one. The LQS is a quota-counting condition rather than a general minimum wage. The same date raised the minimum retirement age for Singapore citizens and PRs to 64, with qualifying re-employment protection to age 69.

Future implementation and application dates

• 7 October 2026 statement — Workplace Fairness Act. MOM said the enacted Act will be implemented at the end of 2027, including internal grievance handling and investigations into workplace-harassment and discrimination grievances. No exact commencement day was stated, so these are not current duties under the new Act.
• January 2027 — Employment Pass and S Pass baselines. For new general-sector applications, the Employment Pass baseline will be S$6,000 and the S Pass baseline will be S$3,600. The relevant renewal trigger is passes expiring from January 2028, so a renewal should be dated by its pass expiry rather than treated as a 2027 application by default.

What a mistake costs and who pays

Late CPF contributions, missing insurance, unpaid salary and wrongful dismissal carry different consequences. The amounts below apply to the stated conduct and, where specified, to a first conviction.

Party	Risk	Amount
Employer	Failing to provide required work injury compensation insurance	Fine of up to S$10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 12 months; MOM Work injury compensation insurance
Employer	Late CPF contributions	Interest of 1.5% a month from the day after the due date, with a minimum S$5 interest amount; CPF Board Enforcement and penalties
Employer	First conviction for the cited CPF late-payment offence	Court fine of S$1,000–5,000 per offence and/or imprisonment of up to six months; subsequent convictions have higher maxima; CPF Board Enforcement and penalties
Employer	Failure to pay salary under Part III of the Employment Act, first conviction	Fine of S$3,000–15,000 and/or imprisonment of up to six months; repeat-offence exposure is higher; MOM Two individuals convicted for failing to pay salaries
Employer	Wrongful dismissal	Reinstatement with lost pay or monetary compensation after an ECT finding; no fixed universal amount; MOM Wrongful dismissal

MOM also treats an EOR work-pass application as an offence when the foreign worker would be based in Singapore to work for an overseas company; the overseas company is directed to its own regular work-pass route through local presence. Employment-agency licensing depends on placement or intermediation activity, and neither rule automatically shifts liability between client and provider. A wrongful-dismissal claim should generally reach TADM within one month after the employee’s last day.

Singapore hiring questions

Does Singapore have a minimum wage?

Singapore has no general statutory minimum wage: salary is negotiated, subject to rules that apply to particular employers, roles or passes. The Progressive Wage Model covers specified sectors and occupations, while firms hiring foreign workers use the Local Qualifying Salary test; from 1 July 2026 that is S$1,800 a month for full-time local workers and S$10.50 an hour for part-time local workers. Those rules do not turn either figure into a nationwide wage floor.

How much does it cost to employ someone earning S$5,000 a month?

For a Singapore citizen aged 55 or below on S$5,000.00 of monthly Ordinary Wages, employer contributions are S$861.25 and the total monthly cost is S$5,861.25, or S$70,335.00 annually. For the same salary under the standard graduated PR rates, a first-year PR has S$200.00 employer CPF and a S$5,211.25 monthly budget (S$62,535.00 annually), while a second-year PR has S$450.00 employer CPF and a S$5,461.25 monthly budget (S$65,535.00 annually). These scenarios exclude bonus and Additional Wages, show SDL as the pre-remittance per-employee allocation, and exclude benefits and provider costs.

Is S$5,000 Singapore’s average salary?

No. S$5,000 is the 2025 median monthly income for full-time employed residents excluding employer or platform-operator CPF contributions. The corresponding full-time resident median including those contributions was S$5,775, which is a distinct measure rather than a figure to add again to the S$5,000 statistic.

Can a foreign company hire in Singapore without setting up a company?

MOM treats a person employed under a contract of service with an EOR as an employee with Employment Act entitlements, even where that employee works for the EOR’s client. Whether an employment-agency licence is needed depends on the activity: it is tied to specified placement or intermediation work, while recruiting solely for one’s own company and outsourcing one’s own staff to customers are listed as activities that do not need that licence. A foreign-worker work-pass arrangement has an additional, separate rule.

Can an EOR apply for a work pass for my overseas company’s employee?

MOM says it is an offence for an EOR to apply for a foreign worker’s pass so that the person is based in Singapore while working for an overseas company. For a foreigner to be based in Singapore long term for an overseas company, MOM points to the company’s own regular work-pass route through local presence, including incorporation or a representative-office route.

Who qualifies for overtime?

The statutory Part IV hours and overtime rules cover non-workmen with basic monthly salaries up to S$2,600 and workmen with basic monthly salaries up to S$4,500; managers and executives are outside Part IV. For a covered employee, normal hours are up to 44 a week, overtime is at least 1.5 times the hourly basic rate, and it is generally limited to 72 hours a month, subject to exemption.

When is final salary due after resignation?

If an employee resigns and serves the required notice, final salary is due on the last day of employment. If the employee resigns without serving the notice, it may be paid within seven days of the last day.

Is a thirteenth-month payment mandatory?

No. An Annual Wage Supplement, often called a 13th-month payment, is not compulsory unless the employment contract or a collective agreement requires it. An agreed AWS term can still be binding, but it is not a universal statutory addition to salary.

Sources

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20. MOM. Progressive Wage Model (MOM Progressive Wage Model). Accessed 20 October 2026.
21. MOM. Factsheet on Lower-Wage Workers (MOM 2026 lower-wage factsheet). Accessed 20 October 2026.
22. CPF Board. CPF Contribution Rate Table from 1 January 2026 (CPF rate table 2026). Accessed 20 October 2026.
23. CPF Board. Skills Development Levy (SDL) (CPF SDL guidance). Accessed 20 October 2026.
24. CPF Board. Who should receive CPF contributions. Accessed 20 October 2026.
25. CPF Board. CPF-related changes taking place in 2026. Accessed 20 October 2026.
26. CPF Board. What constitutes wages for CPF contributions. Accessed 20 October 2026.
27. MOM. Hours of work, overtime and rest day. Accessed 20 October 2026.
28. MOM. Annual leave eligibility and entitlement (MOM Annual leave eligibility and entitlement). Accessed 20 October 2026.
29. MOM. Public holidays: entitlement and pay (MOM Public holidays entitlement and pay). Accessed 20 October 2026.
30. MOM. Public holidays for 2026 (MOM Public holidays for 2026). Accessed 20 October 2026.
31. MOM. Sick leave eligibility and entitlement (MOM Sick leave eligibility and entitlement). Accessed 20 October 2026.
32. MOM. Maternity leave eligibility and entitlement (MOM Maternity leave eligibility and entitlement). Accessed 20 October 2026.
33. MOM. Paternity leave (MOM Paternity leave). Accessed 20 October 2026.
34. MOM. Shared parental leave (MOM Shared parental leave). Accessed 20 October 2026.
35. MOM. Termination with notice (MOM Termination with notice). Accessed 20 October 2026.
36. MOM. Re-employment. Accessed 20 October 2026.
37. MOM. Work injury compensation insurance (MOM Work injury compensation insurance). Accessed 20 October 2026.
38. CPF Board. Enforcement and penalties for non-compliance (CPF Board Enforcement and penalties). Accessed 20 October 2026.
39. MOM. Two individuals convicted for failing to pay salaries (MOM Two individuals convicted for failing to pay salaries). Accessed 20 October 2026.
40. MOM. Wrongful dismissal (MOM Wrongful dismissal). Accessed 20 October 2026.
41. 4dev.com. Complete list of countries available for contractors. Accessed 20 October 2026.
42. MOM. Written Answer on EORs and employee protection. Accessed 20 October 2026.
43. MOM. Can EORs apply for work passes for overseas-company work?. Accessed 20 October 2026.
44. MOM. Who needs an employment agency licence. Accessed 20 October 2026.
45. MOM. What is a contract of service. Accessed 20 October 2026.
46. Channel NewsAsia. Cautious hiring expected in 2026. Accessed 20 October 2026.
47. MOM. Written Answer on termination during probation. Accessed 20 October 2026.
48. MOM. Factsheet on foreign workforce policies. Accessed 20 October 2026.
49. IRAS. Individual income tax rates. Accessed 20 October 2026.
50. MOM. Variable wage components: AWS, bonus, variable pay. Accessed 20 October 2026.
51. MOM. Written Answer on PWM employees out of Part 4 coverage. Accessed 20 October 2026.
52. MOM. Responsible retrenchment. Accessed 20 October 2026.
53. MOM. Mandatory Retrenchment Notifications. Accessed 20 October 2026.
54. Channel NewsAsia. NTUC concerned about employers presenting retrenchments as ‘new opportunities’. Accessed 20 October 2026.
55. MOM. Written Answer on workplace harassment complaints. Accessed 20 October 2026.
56. Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. Ownership and Commercialisation. Accessed 20 October 2026.