Singapore Employer Cost of Hiring Calculator

It depends heavily on pass type. For a Citizen/PR, add roughly 17% employer CPF plus a small Skills Development Levy (SDL) charge, typically a 17-18% load. For an Employment Pass holder, there's no CPF or Foreign Worker Levy at all, just SDL, the smallest load of any pass type. For S Pass and Work Permit holders, add the Foreign Worker Levy (FWL) on top of SDL, no CPF applies to either.

17% of Ordinary Wages, up to the $8,000/month OW ceiling, for Citizens/PRs aged 55 and below (2026 rates). The rate steps down to 16% for ages above 55 to 60 and 12.5% for ages above 60 to 65, following the CPF Board's senior-worker rate step-up effective 1 January 2026. CPF employer contributions apply only to Citizens and PRs, never to Employment Pass, S Pass, or Work Permit holders.

SDL is a mandatory levy paid to the CPF Board (via SkillsFuture Singapore) that funds workforce training. It applies to every employee, local or foreign, any pass type, unlike CPF or the Foreign Worker Levy which are pass-type dependent. The rate is 0.25% of monthly wages, floored at $2/month for wages under $800, and capped at $11.25/month for wages at or above $4,500.

FWL is a monthly levy the employer pays MOM for each S Pass or Work Permit holder employed, used to regulate reliance on foreign labour. It does not apply to Employment Pass holders or Citizens/PRs. The S Pass levy is a harmonised flat rate of $650/month across all sectors and tiers (since 1 September 2025). Work Permit levy rates vary considerably by sector and skill tier, roughly $200-$900/month, so this calculator shows two representative tiers; confirm the exact rate for your sector on MOM's levy calculator.

Because an EP holder attracts zero CPF employer contribution and zero Foreign Worker Levy, only the small SDL charge. A Citizen/PR at the same salary costs the employer an additional ~17% in CPF. This is a real, if often overlooked, cost difference employers weigh alongside headcount-quota and local-hiring policy considerations, not purely a payroll-cost decision.

No, they're unrelated. S Pass and Work Permit holders never attract employer or employee CPF (the citizen/PR-only rule), and separately, their employer pays FWL to MOM. FWL is a workforce-policy levy, not a retirement-savings contribution, so unlike CPF it never benefits the employee directly.