THE National Wages Council (NWC) is inviting the public and organisations to give their views on the annual wage guidelines before it meets next month.

On its agenda are the 'state of the economy and outlook, labour market conditions, productivity, as well as the measures taken to address the current downturn', the Manpower Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

The 13-member NWC, with representatives from unions, employer groups and the Government, had issued revised guidelines on Jan 16 ahead of the annual deadline next month, in the light of the deteriorating economic conditions.

It had recommended companies hit by the economic slump to introduce a wage freeze or pay cut to minimise layoffs.

Although the NWC's recommendations are not mandatory, most companies follow them.

The council, chaired by Professor Lim Pin, will meet amid worsening economic conditions.

Singapore's official full-year economic growth forecast was revised downwards on Tuesday - the third such change in less than four months. The Government now expects gross domestic product to shrink between 6 per cent and 9 per cent this year, instead of between 2 per cent and 5 per cent previously.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also said last week that layoffs for the first three months of this year would probably exceed 10,000. The figure would be the worst ever, surpassing the quarterly peak of 8,590 seen in the last quarter of 2001, following the dot.com bust and the Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.