The Ministry of Manpower’s wage report showed that when it came to low-age, outsourced workers, 55 per cent of firms adopted the National Wages Council’s guidelines to have in-built wage increases, higher than 44 per cent in 2017, which one labour economist calls encouraging. Dr Chew Soon Beng, senior fellow at RSIS, said, “Adoption is higher because of the demand for their services. Outsourced workers don’t benefit from the traditional employers package of fringe benefits. Employers save money there already, so it is good that they give (the wage increase).”