SINGAPORE- Raising the wages of local retail staff is a welcome move, but taking on more costs will likely be a concern amid the challenging business operating environment, business associations said on Monday .
Support measures from the Government, such as the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme, will hopefully help to mitigate the impact of the wage increases. With employers having to pay a minimum wage, competition for local workers will also become more intense, adding to the difficulty in finding local workers.
Uniqlo Singapore's human resource director, Ms Juliana Tan, said the company had bumped up all its store employees' salary by an average of 23 per cent to 25 per cent in June. It has about 1,200 Singaporean and permanent resident employees islandwide.