Retail PWM Review (2025): Job Descriptions, Pay, Training and Examples

What changed in the 2025 review

The review updates multi-channel retail responsibilities and the skills list, sets a three-year wage schedule from September 2025, and retains gross-wage floors and three-month averaging. It recognises that customer service, stock, online fulfilment and digital systems can sit within retail jobs; classify the substantive duties rather than the employer’s preferred title.

Who is covered

Mandatory coverage requires both a retail role under a full-time or part-time contract of service and employment by a firm hiring foreign workers. The firm’s SSIC need not be Retail Trade. Covered workers must be citizens or PRs. Compliance is required for work-pass applications and renewals; classification follows actual responsibilities, not simply a title such as sales associate.

Monthly and hourly gross minimums

Gross wage includes basic pay, travel, food and housing allowances, and productivity incentives. It excludes bonuses including AWS, stock options, special work-expense reimbursements, benefits in kind and employer CPF contributions. Full-time figures cover 35–44 weekly hours, excluding overtime. Part-time rates use a 44-hour basis. Manager and supervisor wages remain market-determined. TCR indicated a 2026 wage-schedule review.

Overtime and three-month averaging

For full-time employees working over 44 hours and covered by Employment Act Part 4, satisfy both overtime of at least 1.5 times basic rate and the additional PWM gross minimum for overtime. The official tables distinguish periods before and from 1 September 2025. To accommodate seasonal sales, a month may meet either its own gross requirement including overtime, or the previous 3 months’ average pay may meet the corresponding average required wage. Annex D contains worked examples; PW Portal allows checking individual records.

Training and new-hire grace period

Every retail PWM role requires one approved WSQ module or a relevant IHL qualification from an MOE-registered institution. An employer with in-house ATO status may use an in-house WSQ module whose TSC code begins RET. New hires have a 6-month training-compliance grace period from their employment date. Annex C of the TCR report gives the complete training framework and the approved list.

Complete overtime thresholds and worked examples

These tables retain every 0–72-hour threshold and all four Annex D averaging examples. For PWM thresholds only, round monthly overtime down to a whole hour: 2.8 means the 2-hour threshold, while actual Employment Act overtime pay still follows all payable hours. Future 2027–28 figures remain subject to review.

September 2025 illustration: a S$1,900 basic wage needs S$405 variable pay to reach S$2,305 without overtime. At 10 overtime hours, illustrated overtime pay is S$149.50, giving S$2,049.50 basic plus overtime; the threshold is S$2,462, leaving S$412.50 to be made up by variable components.

Three-month averaging applies only to retail PWM, not other PWM/OPW/LQS jobs. It can span retail role changes or part-time/full-time changes, but not a move outside retail PWM. New staff must meet each first two months’ requirement; averaging starts in month 3. A partial first month is pro-rated and counts as month 1. Figures in the four example tables are those shown in the report, including its illustrative rounding.

Related topics

• Progressive Wage Model for the retail sector