This was one of the key recommendations made by the National Wage Council (NWC) which released its wage guidelines for this year on Friday morning.

The council also called on employers to provide built-in wage increases based on the companies' performance and business prospects, and make greater use of variable payments to reward workers.

These and the other NWC guidelines were accepted by the Government shortly after the council presented its recommendations.

In giving its backing, the Government said in a statement that it agreed with the NWC that pushing up wages to keep pace with high inflation would not be sustainable and would have an adverse impact on Singapore's competitiveness, in light of the economic uncertainty.

On the one-off special payment, the NWC said while the Government and the unions are already taking measures to help workers cope with inflation, employers should also play their part.

'Companies should consider giving a one-off special lump sum payment to rank-and-file workers, with heavier weightage for low-wage workers,' said Professor Lim Pin, the NWC chairman at a press conference.

The one-time payment, he said, would serve the dual purpose of helping workers, while keeping the employer's wage bill affordable in the long-run.

Supporting this recommendation, the Government said it should take into account the Government's assistance measures to help lower-income Singaporeans to cope with the rising cost of living, and the company's ability to pay.

NWC also stressed that keeping wages sustainable was important in an economic climate wrought with uncertainty. It said pushing up wage increases to keep with high inflation rate will undermine Singapore's competitiveness and will not be sustainable over the longer run.

Along those lines, the council did not prescribe any specific figure for the one-off payments or wage increases, preferring to say that companies pay according to their performance.

The council also urged companies, workers and unions to work together to improve productivity through means like job redesign and training.

They red-flagged productivity growth as a trouble spot because wage growth has outpaced productivity growth for the second consecutive year.

Total wages of private sector employees rose by 5.9 per cent last year but labour productivity fell to 0.9 per cent.