April 9, 2007
AsiaOne

Adminisrative Service officers will get an annual pay rise of between 14 per cent and 25 per cent.

Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean who announced this in Parliament today, said the Admin Service is the core of the public service, and a lot is demanded of these elite officers.

The salary for this group of top civil service officers was last adjusted in 2000 and it had fallen bheind the market benchmark, said Mr Teo, who is also Minister in charge of the civil service.

The Minister said the terms and conditions must keep pace with the private sector, otherwise the civil service would not be able to retain its top talents and the service to the public would suffer.

The minister said the last review was in 2000 and ministers and top civil servants had to take pay cuts during the 9/11 and Sars crises.

The philosophy of the pay revision, he said, is to facilitate the recruitment and retention of the best and brightest in the government service.

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