LABOUR chief Lim Swee Say yesterday threw the labour movement's weight behind the Government's goal to increase productivity.

Productivity gains are the best way to drive wages up, he told more than 500 unionists and employers at a conference on managing manpower challenges this year.

He spoke during a dialogue at the Singapore Tripartism Forum, when he was asked why a minimum wage was not put in place to encourage Singaporeans to take up jobs in low-paying sectors.

He argued that having a minimum wage often caused wages to stagnate.

He said: '(Employers) will pay the workers, but they are not happy because they feel they are overpaying... so they want the workers to work harder to justify the minimum wage, but the workers will say, 'The law requires it, why should I work harder?''

Since workers are not willing to produce more, wages do not rise above the minimum. 'The minimum wage turns into a maximum wage,' he quipped, adding that both employer and worker end up in a 'lose-lose situation'.

Mr Lim, who is secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress, said workers should focus on improving productivity. Then, wages will rise naturally.

'We want wages to go up, but not because the law dictates (it) to meet the minimum wage, but because we work together to improve productivity,' he added.

His comments followed calls in recent days by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong to raise productivity.

Mr Lim was on a panel with Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong and Singapore National Employers Federation president Stephen Lee.

Mr Gan said the Government has traditionally eschewed a minimum wage in favour of other measures to help low-income workers, like the Workfare Income Supplement scheme, though the latter is 'a defensive move'.

Taking the offensive will mean redesigning jobs and upgrading worker skills, and that will lead to a sustainable improvement in productivity, he added.