LOCAL employees who work at companies that hire foreign workers must soon be paid a minimum full-time wage of S$1,600, up 14 per cent from S$1,400, or a part-time hourly rate of S$10.50 per hour, up from S$9 per hour.

This change is to keep pace with wage growth, said Finance Minister Lawrence Wong in his Budget speech on Friday (Feb 16).

All companies hiring foreign workers must pay their local workers a local qualifying salary (LQS). The number of local workers who are paid the LQS is used to determine the firm’s foreign worker quota entitlement.

Currently, the LQS is S$1,400 for full-time workers, or a minimum hourly rate of S$9 per hour for part-time workers.

The computation of the foreign worker quota will also be correspondingly adjusted with the new LQS.

The changes will be implemented from Jul 1, 2024.

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For more of BT’s Budget 2024 coverage, go to bt.sg/budget24