Employees who are Singaporean Citizens or PRs, whether they are hired on a full-time, part-time, temporary or contract basis, must be paid CPF contributions. More recently, Platform Workers have been categorised as a third group of workers, who are also eligible for CPF contributions.
Under various circumstances, there may be some employees, potentially including part-timers, who do not need to make full CPF contributions.
Read Also: How To Calculate Annual Leave And Sick Leave Entitlements For Part-Time Workers
Citizenship Status, Age Group, And Wage Band Will Affect Your CPF Contributions
Whether an employee is working full-time or part-time does not affect their CPF contribution rates. Instead, their CPF contribution rates is affected by their 1) citizenship status, 2) age group, and 3) wage band.
When it comes to citizenship status, the obvious one is that foreign employees do not get any CPF contributions at all. Permanent Residents (PRs) in their first and second years receive a reduced CPF contribution rate, or a Graduated contribution rate, and eventually get full CPF contributions by their third year.
Read Also: Guide To CPF For PRs: What New Permanent Residents In Singapore Need To Know
Also quite common knowledge is that CPF contributions change as employees fall into different age brackets. Employees who are below 55 receive CPF contributions worth 37% of their monthly salaries, while older employees receive less. In the table below, we can see that even though the amount that goes into their different CPF accounts change, their overall CPF contribution rate does not.
We can also see that CPF contributions drop as employees fall into older age groups. This can be partly explained by the fact that smaller CPF contributions can make older employees’ salaries more competitive. Older employees may have set aside enough for their housing (in the Ordinary Account) and retirement (in the Special Account or Retirement Account), as contributions to these accounts drop, while their MediSave Account contributions remain constant.
Read Also: Guide To Understanding CPF Contributions For Part-Time Employees In Singapore
Finally, what also affects CPF contributions is the salary that we make. Often, we think of the CPF Salary Ceiling of $7,400 in 2025 – and, which will rise to $8,000 in 2026.
However, those who earn less than $750 will also not require the full CPF contributions. This may affect those who are part-time employees more.
Local Employees Earning Less Than $750 A Month May Not Require Full CPF Contributions
For a start, no employer or employee CPF contributions are required for employees who earn $50 or less a month.
Employees who earn more than $50 but less than $500 will not require any employee’s share of CPF contributions. Such employees are still eligible for the full employer’s share of CPF contributions – which amounts to 17% (of their total wage).
Employees who earn more than $500 but less than $750 will also receive the full employer CPF contributions of 17% (of their total wage). In addition, they have to make an employee’s share of CPF contribution, but at a lower rate of 0.6 (of their total wage – $500).
For example, an employee who earns $700 a month will get 17% or $119 in employer’s CPF contributions, Meanwhile, they have to make $120 in employee’s CPF contributions – amounting to about 17% of their total wage rather than the full 20% for those who earn $750 or more.
This approach phases in CPF contributions from an employee’s monthly wage, and they will not suddenly see their take-home pay drop once they earn beyond the $750 threshold.
Both employers and employees can make use of the CPF Contribution Calculator to compute the required monthly CPF contributions.
In summary, part-timers do not receive less CPF contributions, but instead, how much they receive is dependent on whether their monthly salary is $750 and above.
Read Also: Part-Time Employment Regulations: 10 Things To Know When Hiring A Part-Timer
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