From 1 July 2026 — now four days away — any Singapore employer that hires foreign workers must comply with updated wage floors for resident administrators and drivers, or risk losing work pass eligibility. The National Wages Council (NWC) revised the progressive wage Singapore requirements for administrators and drivers in November 2025, raising the minimum gross monthly wage for administrative assistants from S$1,980 to S$2,170, and restructuring driver classifications with Group A Level 1 Drivers moving to S$2,370 per month. Approximately 57,600 resident employees are affected.
This is not a recommendation. Compliance with the Occupational Progressive Wage (OPW) is a condition for obtaining and renewing mainstream work passes — Work Permits, S Passes, and Employment Passes alike. An employer that fails to bring covered resident staff up to the new floors before 1 July 2026 will find itself unable to renew or apply for foreign worker passes on the myMOM portal.
What Are Occupational Progressive Wages?
The Occupational Progressive Wage for administrators and drivers sits within Singapore’s broader Progressive Wage Model (PWM), developed by the National Wages Council. Unlike sector-specific PWM schemes for the cleaning, security, or landscape sectors, the OPW applies across all industries to resident employees in administrative and driving roles at firms that employ foreign workers.
Per the Ministry of Manpower, the OPW covers all Singapore citizens and permanent residents who are full-time or part-time employees in administrative or driving roles on a contract of service, employed by firms that employ foreign workers. The mechanism ensures lower-wage workers receive structured pay rises tied to upskilling, rather than remaining flat-lined.
The July 2026 update also restructures how the driver OPW is organised — switching from a general/specialised split to a licence-class-based Group A and Group B system, which is more granular and relevant to the actual roles these drivers perform.
New Wage Floors for Administrators from 1 July 2026
The updated administrator wage ladder spans three rungs. All figures are monthly gross wage requirements for full-time employees (35–44 hours per week), excluding overtime and bonuses, per MOM as at November 2025:
| Job Level | 1 Jul 2025–30 Jun 2026 | 1 Jul 2026–30 Jun 2027 | 1 Jul 2027–30 Jun 2028 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative Supervisor | ≥S$3,160 | ≥S$3,340 | ≥S$3,520 |
| Administrative Executive | ≥S$2,580 | ≥S$2,760 | ≥S$2,940 |
| Administrative Assistant | ≥S$1,980 | ≥S$2,170 | ≥S$2,360 |
The Administrative Assistant rung is the largest: it captures office attendants, data entry clerks, library clerks, and similar roles. The Administrative Executive rung covers receptionists, secretaries, accounting and bookkeeping clerks, customer service clerks, and staff who process invoices or coordinate procurement. The Administrative Supervisor rung applies to those who manage a team performing administrative tasks.
Classification follows actual job duties, not job titles. An employee carrying a “Coordinator” title whose actual duties consist of data entry and document filing is an Administrative Assistant under the OPW framework — and must be paid at least S$2,170 per month from 1 July 2026.
New Wage Floors for Drivers from 1 July 2026
The NWC 2025/2026 guidelines restructure the driver OPW into two groups based on driving licence class. Monthly gross wage requirements for full-time drivers (35–44 hours per week), excluding overtime:
Group A — Drivers with Class 3 or below licence (van, car, motorcycle, tram drivers):
| Job Level | 1 Jul 2026–30 Jun 2027 | 1 Jul 2027–30 Jun 2028 |
|---|---|---|
| Group A Level 2 Driver | ≥S$2,485 | ≥S$2,665 |
| Group A Level 1 Driver | ≥S$2,370 | ≥S$2,550 |
Group B — Drivers with Class 4 or above licence (lorry, bus, trailer truck drivers):
| Job Level | 1 Jul 2026–30 Jun 2027 | 1 Jul 2027–30 Jun 2028 |
|---|---|---|
| Group B Level 2 Driver | ≥S$2,555 | ≥S$2,790 |
| Group B Level 1 Driver | ≥S$2,505 | ≥S$2,690 |
Level 2 applies to drivers who take on additional responsibilities beyond basic driving: mentoring junior drivers, route planning, handling hazardous materials or cold chain cargo, chauffeuring services, or roles requiring additional certifications. If a driver’s duties are straightforward transport without these additional elements, they are classified at Level 1.
Why the OPW Floor Sits Above the New Local Qualifying Salary
From 1 July 2026, Singapore’s Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) rises from S$1,600 to S$1,800 per month. The LQS is the minimum wage a local employee must earn to count as a full headcount in your firm’s foreign worker quota calculation. The OPW floors for administrative assistants (S$2,170) and Group A Level 1 Drivers (S$2,370) both sit well above the LQS.
This matters in two ways. First, an employer who pays an admin assistant exactly the LQS floor (S$1,800) would satisfy the quota-counting requirement but breach the OPW — because the OPW sets a higher obligation. Second, employers who comply with the OPW automatically satisfy LQS for those workers, since the OPW floor exceeds it.
HR managers reviewing the Singapore HR and MOM compliance calendar for 2026 should note that 1 July 2026 is a compound deadline: LQS, OPW, retirement age (raised to 64), and re-employment age (raised to 69) all take effect on the same date.
Why 57,600 Resident Workers Will See Pay Rises
According to NWC data cited by MOM, the updated OPW covers approximately 44,700 resident administrative workers and 12,900 resident drivers at firms employing foreign workers — totalling some 57,600 lower-wage workers. Of the administrative workers, around 43,800 were earning below the new S$2,170 floor in 2024 and can expect wage increases from 1 July 2026.
These figures signal that non-compliance at scale is likely in many workplaces. If your organisation employs a dozen or more local admin and driver staff, it is probable that some will need a payroll adjustment. Discovering a breach at work pass renewal time — when your HR team needs to renew a Work Permit or S Pass — is an avoidable crisis.
How MOM Enforces OPW Compliance
Enforcement is embedded in the work pass system, not in a separate audit process. Per MOM, employers must meet OPW requirements as a condition for renewing existing work passes or applying for new ones. When you submit any work pass transaction on the myMOM portal — EP renewal, S Pass application, Work Permit renewal — the system checks your OPW compliance status automatically.
Employers and employees can verify compliance using MOM’s Progressive Wage Portal, which displays current salary, role classification, and whether the OPW requirements are met. This is particularly useful for organisations with administrative headcounts distributed across departments and multiple payroll systems.
There is no fine schedule published for OPW breaches independent of the work pass system. The practical consequence of non-compliance is the loss of work pass access — which in most firms translates to an immediate operational constraint.
OPW Training Requirements
The OPW includes a training component. Employers must ensure that covered resident administrators and drivers have completed at least one WSQ (Workforce Skills Qualification) Statement of Attainment, or have completed an equivalent in-house training programme. There are no changes to training requirements under the NWC 2025/2026 guidelines.
New hires are given a six-month grace period from their date of employment to complete the training requirement. In-house training programmes must be documented with clear training objectives, modalities, key tasks, and duration — and must include records of which employees attended. On-the-job training qualifies if it meets these documentation standards.
Government Support via the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme
Employers raising wages to meet the new OPW floors may be eligible for support under the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme (PWCS), administered by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. The PWCS co-funds eligible wage increases for resident employees earning S$4,000 or less in average gross monthly wages.
For qualifying year 2026, the government co-funding rate is 20% on eligible wage increases. Employers who raised wages in 2025 and sustained those increases into 2026 may receive a second tranche of 20% co-funding for the same increment — effectively 40% co-funding over the two-year period. IRAS disburses PWCS payouts automatically in Q1 2027 based on CPF contribution data; employers do not need to apply. Full eligibility details are on IRAS’s Progressive Wage Credit Scheme page.
HR Action Checklist: What to Do Before 1 July 2026
With the deadline days away, here is the minimum action list for HR managers:
- Audit your payroll. Identify all full-time and part-time resident employees in administrative and driving roles at your firm. The OPW applies only to firms that employ foreign workers — if your firm has no foreign workers at all, the OPW does not apply.
- Classify each role correctly. Match each employee’s actual duties — not their job title — against the MOM OPW job descriptions. Misclassifying an Administrative Executive as a Supervisor (to appear compliant with a lower floor) is a compliance risk.
- Check driver licence classes. Group A (Class 3 or below) and Group B (Class 4 or above) have different wage floors. Pull licence records from employee files.
- Compare gross wages against the 1 July 2026 floors. Note: gross wage includes basic wage and fixed allowances (transport, food, housing) but excludes bonuses, Annual Wage Supplement, and overtime pay.
- Update employment contracts and payroll systems to reflect the new rate from 1 July 2026. The new rate should appear on the first July payslip.
- Plan for the 2027 step-up. The NWC floors rise again from 1 July 2027. Build this into your 2027 budgeting cycle now.
- Confirm training records for all covered employees. Keep WSQ certificates or in-house training documentation on file for MOM inspection.
For firms setting up operations in Singapore for the first time — and needing to put compliant HR policies in place alongside foreign workforce management — our colleagues at Raffles Corporate Services can assist with company incorporation and HR policy structuring.
Conclusion
The NWC 2025/2026 OPW update is a mandatory wage adjustment, not a soft recommendation. The 1 July 2026 deadline is hard — and enforcement runs through your next work pass transaction on the myMOM portal. Audit your administrative and driver headcount now, classify roles against the MOM job descriptions, raise wages to the new gross monthly floors, and ensure the first July payroll run reflects the updated figures.
For ongoing support with Singapore work pass compliance, foreign worker levy strategy, and employment pass applications, Singapore Employment Agency is a MOM-licensed agency equipped to guide employers through the full spectrum of MOM obligations — from initial pass applications to annual quota reviews and compliance audits.
— The Editorial Team, Little Big Employment Agency