Written Answer to PQ on Retrenchment Benefits Survey

NOTICE PAPER NO. 2784 OF 2024 FOR SITTING ON OR AFTER 8 MAY 2024
QUESTION NO. 6114 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Mr Pritam Singh

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) with reference to the Ministry’s 2017 survey on retrenchment benefits, how many workers have been paid retrenchment benefits that exceeded prevailing norms; and (b) whether the Ministry plans to continue undertaking and publishing such surveys on retrenchment benefits and, if so, with what frequency.

Answer: 

Under the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment (TAMEM), the prevailing norm is to pay retrenchment benefits of between two weeks to one month of salary per year of service. With reference to the 2017 survey on retrenchment benefits, 9 in 10 retrenched workers received retrenchment benefits. Among them, 8 in 10 received retrenchment benefits in accordance with the prevailing norm and 1 in 10 received above the norm. The quantum of the benefits paid depends on factors such as industry practice and the financial position of the company.

2.There is no fixed frequency for conducting the retrenchment benefits survey. Nonetheless where appropriate, MOM will conduct new surveys and release the data.