Budget 2021 debate: Gerald Giam on improving Progressive Wage Model

In Parliament on Thursday (Feb 25), MP Gerald Giam made suggestions to improve the Progressive Wage Model and speed up its implementation. Set a basic wage floor for specific industry sectors and expand the list of sectors quickly, he said, bringing in other elements like training requirements and career progression ladders later. Acknowledging that it might be tough to impose wide-ranging wage increases during a pandemic, he said the Workfare Income Supplement could be used to top up wages to the minimum wage until the economy recovers.