Minister's Salary averages at 30+ months!

[lobo76]

I am starting another thread because I felt that too much focus was given to the GDP component which is a maximum of 8 mths, and admitted to be only a QUARTER of their annual salary. (that works out to 32 mths as the annual salary, 8 x 4)

At that time, people have different interpretations regarding the statement though, thinking the 1/4 referred to something else entirely. But now, the other interpretations are proven to be false.

This is a pdf shows their 2007 salary. Already, it is about 30 mths. The source is from government website (www.parliament.gov.sg). Note that their FIXED component is already 16 months.

This other one is supposed to show the most recent pay breakdown. However, I am unable to trace to original source, so only have sdp website one.

.
The breakdown seems similar enough to the parliament.gov.sg one which gives it some credence. I leave it to your own discretion to believe it or not.

Does having this breakdown show that they are being transparent? My answer is NO. For one thing, they have never shared how the performance bonus is calculated. Isn't GDP supposed to be their PB equivalent? They are getting double bonus? What the hell is Special Variable bonus anyway?

---

Besides highlight the total mths that make up their annual salary, the other main point of this thread (I hope) is to discuss specifically the individual components.

For example, Public sector leadership allowance. What is it for? To pay for their walkabouts? Given that we don't see them that often, are they doing their walkabouts at all?


Reference: http://www.yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4667-800-for-us-millions-for-themselves

 

[StarSeeker]

You are not kidding right. So many type of bonus!

By the way, what is Public sector leadership allowance? Whats AVC & SVP. & whats special allowance.

If this is true, it makes me sick in the stomache.

 

[The_Davis]

WTF 30 MONTHS in a year?

 

[Shutterx]

$800 for us, millions for themselves

March 17th, 2011

There has been much publicity in the media about the so called “growth dividend” in the recent Budget presented which hands out up to $800 to every voter. This handout amounts to $1.5 billion in total.

What followed was a torrent of propaganda to convince the people that the giveaways were generous and, to quote by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, “more than what is required for lower- and middle-income households to tide over this temporary period of high inflation.”

But while the handouts are for us to tide over the high inflation we are facing (which are in fact inadequate), the Ministers are more than generous when it comes to their own handouts.

It looks like they are paying themselves an 8-month bonus. This payment is given in addition to their basic salaries, the Annual Wage Supplement (AWS, the 13th month payment) and their Performance Bonuses (PB).

Let us look at the way a minister’s pay is computed. The number of months for items 6 and 8 (see Table on right) have been determined and made public.

The PB, item 9, which can range between zero and 14 months of the salary, is a secretive component of the ministerial pay. It is determined solely by the Prime Minister and kept confidential as admitted by Foreign Minister George Yeo here.

In August 2009, the SDP wrote to the Public Service Division twice (see here and here) to inquire about the ministers’ performance bonuses, but was given evasive answers.

In a parliamentary session in January 2009, Minister Teo Chee Hean said that senior civil servant at the MR4 level (which includes junior ministers) received 9 months worth of PB in 2008. Now, the GDP growth in 2007 was 8.8%. The 8.8% growth must have been one of the indicators, if not the indicator, for the PB computation.

Last year GDP growth was 14.5%, a much higher rate than 2007. It is likely that the Prime Minister will heap on his and the ministers’ platters a 14-month PB compared to the 9 months they received in 2008.

Nevertheless, I shall use a more conservative estimate of 10 months for the PB. I shall also use a more conservative estimate of 1 month for the SVP.

As you can see this gives each minister a whopping pay of 36.5 months for 2011!

In 2007, an MR4 officer received a basic monthly salary of $52,420. On top of that they were given another 18.4 months of bonuses pulling up their salaries to $1,593,500! That year, the Prime Minister received a total $3.09 million.

In 2008, their monthly salary was increased by 14%, making an MR4 officer’s basic monthly salary $60,000 and the Prime Minister’s $116,000. Tag on the multi-month bonuses and their annual wages again come up in the millions.

Based on this calculation, it is safe to assume that the annual salaries for ministers have not changed. A junior minister would get $2.19 million and the Prime Minister $4.23 million. This works out to about $360,000 a month in wages for Mr Lee Hsien Loong!

It was announced that Parliament had adjusted the President’s salary to S$4,267,500 for this year, confirming that my calculation is fairly close since the Prime Minister’s salary typically trails the President’s marginally.

Given this range, it is reasonable to assume that the average wage of a cabinet minister is about $3 million. Multiply it by 21 ministers in the cabinet and we are paying $63 million for the ministerial salaries.

This is 5.5% of the nation’s entire growth dividend.

It means that a minister like Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, despite blowing the YOG budget by over 3 times its original budget of $104 million and running an event that was riddled with incompetence and mismanagement, will still be paid about $3 million.

It is no wonder they are so pleased with the Budget. It is no wonder Mr Lim Swee Say said he feels so rich whenever he looks at his CPF statement.

In the meantime we get the crumbs that fall from their table while they feast.

In our Shadow Budget 2011, the SDP calls for ministers’ salaries to be pegged to the national median income and not GDP, and with the Prime Minister’s pay pegged at 30 times the median salary.

Our proposal is already generous by any standard. With our formula, the Prime Minister would still be getting a salary of about $720,000 per annum, which is still about 30 percent more than what the President of the United States makes.

Currently our PM Lee pays himself 10 times what President Obama gets!

It is time to stop the PAP from partying with our money.

by John Tan

* John Tan is SDP’s Assistant Secretary-General.

** This article first appeared on Singapore Democrats

References:
1 Annual Salary Components for MR4 Grade
2 Speech by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean
3 Ibid

http://www.temasekreview.com/2011/03/17/800-for-us-millions-for-themselves/
4 Ibid
5 Notice Paper No. 6 of 2009

 

[Shutterx]

Hard truths about ministerial wages

March 19th, 2011 |

In my last article (here), I gave readers a sense of our minister wages in actual dollars. I apologize if you suffered the revolting churn in your stomach after reading the obscenity. In this piece, I want to point out the fallacies of pegging minister wages to the GDP.

The GDP is one of the indicators of the size of an economy. It is sensitive to a multitude of factors such as the production of goods and services, the spending of consumers, investments and the government, and the value of export among other things. Some of these factors are not necessarily good for society.

For example, when the government buys more military hardware, GDP goes up. When cost of living skyrockets, GDP goes up. When housing prices hit the roof, GDP goes up.

Even when Sports Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan busts the Youth Olympic Games budget, yes, GDP goes up!

It is easy to see how the concept of pegging ministerial bonuses to GDP growth is entirely flawed. Yet our ministers have a specific bonus pegged to GDP growth called the GDP bonus (GB) that accounts for a large portion of their annual remuneration.

The GB pays 3 months of a minister’s monthly salary if the GDP grows by 5%. The maximum is an enormous 8 months if the GDP grows by 10% or more, such as last year. The GB does not pay if GDP growth is below 2%.1

In a good year, even if every minister does nothing, the GDP would go up. In a bad economy, a government would typically pump money to stimulate it. That act in itself would contribute to the increase in GDP.

In Singapore when GDP does go down during a recession, our ministers still get their 16 months fixed pay. All they would miss are their bonuses for the year. When the economy recovers, they would recoup everything and then some.

Compare this to their commercial counterparts who, in a recession, may lose more than just their bonuses. Their entire investments and livelihoods could be wiped out. Our ministers share only the benefits that businesspeople in the private sector reap, not the risks and consequences that they face.

Is this why the Government wanted to build the casinos so badly? Is this why they are so motivated to keep foreign workers coming in?

The logic gets weirder

When a bonus is pegged to GDP growth, our ministers can get a bigger bonus even when our economy suffers. Let me illustrate by drawing an example using only the GDP growth bonus (GB).

Scenario A: Let’s assume that our GDP in a base year is $300 billion. If we experience a growth of 3% per year over the next 2 years (see table below). This situation would result in the ministers getting two consecutive annual bonuses of say 1 month worth of GB per year, totaling 2 months in two years.

Scenario B: Now, let’s change the scenario. Instead of growth, our economy hits a recession and our GDP dips to $288 billion in year 1. That would give us a negative growth rate of -4%. Accordingly, our ministers receive no bonus for that year.

The government then pumps-prime the economy with all sorts of questionable schemes. As a result, we see our GDP going back up to $316.8 billion in year 2, registering a growth of 10% relative to year 1. Such an increase in GDP will attract a GB of about 8 months.

Now let’s see: In Scenario A, our GDP moved up from $300 billion to $318.27 billion—a nett GDP growth of 6.09% over 2 years. The ministers receive a 2 months GB. In Scenario B, the GDP dropped in year 1 before rising to $316.8 billion in year 2—a nett growth of only 5.8% over 2 years. In this instance, the ministers get 8 months GB.

It’s a win-win situation for them.

The hard truth
Don’t let the Government impress you with big numbers and confuse you with big words. Let me summarize the matter with a few hard truths.

Hard truth #1: GDP growth increases the ministers’ pay directly, not ours.

Hard truth #2: Ministers get big bucks even when the economy is down.

Hard truth #3: Ministers get big multiple bonuses even when they screw-up over and over again.

Hard truth #4: If you are an average earner, you will have to work for 100 years to get what a minister gets in one year.

Hard truth #5: You have only one weapon to stop this nonsense—your vote.

John Tan

* The writer is SDP’s Assistant Secretary-General.

** This article first appeared on Singapore Democrats

Reference

1 Civil Service salary revisions

http://www.temasekreview.com/2011/03/19/hard-truths-about-ministerial-wages/

 

[lobo76]

aiyo.. just reference them will do (as I did in my post). Really need to copy and paste the whole article meh?

 

[cancer81]

so..... is a massive pay cut for the cabinet part of the SDP manifesto??

if it is then good.

 

[lobo76]

To think that I was envious of SIA who last time got 6-7 mths bonus.... that was peanuts! lol

 

[cancer81]

Keppel Offshore and Shipyard got 9 and 11 mths before...

large portions of their employees are locals....

 

[lobo76]

Keppel Offshore and Shipyard got 9 and 11 mths before...

large portions of their employees are locals....

I got friend in shipping industry, so I know there can be big fluctuations. But, the fixed component for them (ministers) alone is 4 months.

... you know after talking so much, I have no idea of their 'normal' monthly pay. lol.

 

[Shutterx]

so..... is a massive pay cut for the cabinet part of the SDP manifesto??

if it is then good.

is this thread abt SDP manifesto??

 

[StarSeeker]

I got friend in shipping industry, so I know there can be big fluctuations. But, the fixed component for them (ministers) alone is 4 months.

... you know after talking so much, I have no idea of their 'normal' monthly pay. lol.

Bonus should be bonus. If fixed, then not bonus meh. Or maybe I am too stupid to understand.

Anyway, can anyone explain whats all these allowance like Public sector leadership, SVP, AVP.

Why we (at least me) don't have such things?

 

[koxinga]

at the end of the day, for a 30+ month annual salary, I dun see one minister doing 3 or 2 person job

 

[ponpokku]

at the end of the day, for a 30+ month annual salary, I dun see one minister doing 3 or 2 person job

and thou they want to be on par with private sector CEOs, none took the responsibility of them when things cok up. no explaination, apology or resignation.

with greater income comes lesser responsibilities.

 

[cancer81]

is this thread abt SDP manifesto??

oh great leader,

it is another point out how lousy the PAP is thread har??


okay okay


PAP very bad.... pay themselves so much =(

 

[Shutterx]

oh great leader,

it is another point out how lousy the PAP is thread har??


okay okay


PAP very bad.... pay themselves so much =(

oh 'PAP-defender',

pls continue to suck up to your masters....

all the facts and data will still be shown to everybody here

 

[lobo76]

and thou they want to be on par with private sector CEOs, none took the responsibility of them when things cok up. no explaination, apology or resignation.

with greater income comes lesser responsibilities.

well, economic theory teaches us that there is a law of diminishing returns.
more pay will make a person work harder... only until a certain point.

 

[idkelvin]

at the end of the day, for a 30+ month annual salary, I dun see one minister doing 3 or 2 person job

u are wrong.. some did more than 10 person job..
because they are holding director post for another 10 companies..

they are hard working.. can moonlight somemore.. how much work does a minister have.. need to work ot one or not har?

 

[lobo76]

PAP very bad.... pay themselves so much =(

hmm.... yeah..there is that too... If you really want to talk about that, I can't and won't stop you.

But, my focus is on accountability though. I mean, for MY bonus, I only get if I hit certain target. That's accountability.

How does one calculate THEIR performance bonus? Given that we have been told that their KPI was the GDP, which turns out to be just a component for ANOTHER bonus.

 

[Shutterx]

the MPs and ministers are working so hard for the nation, u can see the tiredness on their faces during Parliament