The promises
- Under way
Minimum wage of SAT$6 an hour
SAT$5.24 an hour since 1 July 2026; SAT$6.05 is not due until 1 July 2028.
Good for aigaRead more
- Promised
- Raise the national minimum wage to SAT$6 an hour. No date was given when the manifesto was launched in Salelologa in July 2025; the pledge sits under the party's 2025 to 2030 policies. 1
- What happened
- Cabinet approved a rise from SAT$4.84 to SAT$5.24 an hour, reported 13 May 2026, taking effect in July 2026. 2 MCIL's employment guidance lists SAT$5.24 as the current rate from 1 July 2026 and the next steps as SAT$5.65 from 1 July 2027 and SAT$6.05 from 1 July 2028, set under Cabinet Directive FK(24)25 and section 32 of the Labour and Employment Relations Amendment Act 2023. 3 The rate covers private-sector and state-owned-enterprise workers; workers under the Public Service Act 2004 are not covered. 3 The Samoa Chamber of Commerce and Industry had warned against a rapid increase and recommended a phased three-year pathway, reported 16 May 2026. 4 The 2027 and 2028 rates are scheduled, not yet paid. 3
- Impact on families
- A worker on the old minimum is entitled to 40 sene more an hour, about SAT$16 more for a 40-hour week. 2 No official count of workers on the minimum wage, of employer compliance after 1 July 2026, or of jobs gained or lost has been published; an MCIL or SBS count of minimum-wage earners would show it. 35 The ILO's 2025 review of Pacific minimum wages reports an IMF finding that in 2016 one in five private-sector employees in Samoa earned the minimum wage, mainly in retail, and says the number of labour inspectors is not sufficient to enforce compliance fully. 6 SBS's June 2026 quarter employment report, released 21 August 2026, recorded 28,455 employees, up 8.2% on June 2025, and quarterly wages and salaries of SAT$350.1 million, up 24.6%; those are totals across all formal employers for a period before the rise took effect. 5
- Cost
- No direct budget cost: the floor binds private and state-owned employers, who have published no estimate of what it adds to their wage bills. Not costed by government.
- Verdict for families
- Good for aiga
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Mixed long term
- Who deserves the credit
-
Shared credit
Most of the rise so far was set under Fiamē: a multi-stage rollout that began in July 2024 took the floor from SAT$3.00 to SAT$4.00 on 1 July 2024 and, as a scheduled step, to SAT$4.84 in July 2025, and the former Finance Minister said the budget this government tabled in October 2025 was the same one he had prepared. 91110 This Cabinet's own addition is the May 2026 decision: a 40 sene step to SAT$5.24, chosen as a mid-point to safeguard local businesses, and the scheduled SAT$5.65 and SAT$6.05 steps. 29 The Prime Minister presented the SAT$6 wage as a FAST election promise in February 2026; the two earlier steps, which account for SAT$1.84 of the SAT$2.24 rise since 2024, were his predecessor's. 119
- Who gains
- Workers paid at the floor in the private sector and state-owned enterprises: 40 sene an hour more from 1 July 2026, about SAT$16 a week, rising to SAT$6.05 an hour by July 2028. 23
- Who pays
- Employers carry the cost, and the quarter of workers in informal employment and all public servants are outside the floor and get nothing from it. 312
- Assessment
- The floor has risen from SAT$3.00 to SAT$5.24 since July 2024, SAT$1.84 of it under the previous government's 2024 policy and 40 sene under this one, and the path to SAT$6.05 needs only the Cabinet directive already issued, so delivery is within reach. 239 It reaches only covered formal workers paid at the floor: MCIL excludes Public Service Act workers, and SBS's 2022 labour-force survey counted 13,447 of 53,135 employed people, 25.3%, in informal employment outside any wage floor. 312 The ILO's 2025 review says Samoa's minimum wage reviews had been infrequent and the rate had lagged prices and earnings, that both the private and public-sector minimums were below the official poverty income level for a household, and that inspectors are too few to enforce compliance fully; the Chamber of Commerce asked for the phase-in Cabinet adopted, and private-sector participants at a July 2026 consultation named imported materials, electricity, fuel, freight and skill shortages as pressures. 468 The rise moves money from employers to the lowest-paid workers at no cost to the budget, which is why it lands well; whether firms shed staff, raise prices or move work off the books is unmeasured, and real GDP fell 1.6% in FY2025/26, so the five-year picture is mixed. 7
Sources (12)
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- Minimum wage increases by 40 cents
- Employment services | Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour
- Chamber opposed immediate $6.51 wage jump
- Employment Report, June 2026 Quarter
- Minimum wage systems and wage-setting practices in the Pacific Island Countries
- Gross Domestic Product, June 2026 Quarter
- Private Sector Highlights Key Constraints and Opportunities for Sustainable Economic Development in Samoa
- Minimum Wage is $5.84 and does not move to $6.05 until July 2028
- FAST Government Adopts Key Policies from Previous Budget
- $6 minimum wage, pay rise for civil servants
- 2022 Samoa Labour Force and Child Labour Survey
- No sign yet
Pay rise for all government employees
Sent to the Remuneration Tribunal in February 2026; no new pay scale or payment confirmed.
Cuts both waysRead more
- Promised
- A pay rise for all government employees. No amount or date was reported during the campaign; the Prime Minister described it as an election promise in February 2026. 12 Campaign summaries did not record a specific public-service pay figure for FAST. 3
- What happened
- Cabinet directed the Government Remuneration Tribunal to consult and prepare a proposal for an equitable public-sector pay increase, reported 12 February 2026; the task was expected to take five to six months, with Cabinet to decide after receiving the report. 2 The 2026/27 budget address, published 27 May 2026, did not announce a general public-service pay award. 4 No approved rate, new pay scale or payout had been confirmed by October 2026. 24
- Impact on families
- No public servant has received a pay rise under this promise yet. 2 SBS recorded formal-sector wages and salaries of SAT$350.1 million in the June 2026 quarter, up 24.6% on a year earlier, but that is a total across all industries, not evidence of an across-the-board government award. 5 Published tribunal recommendations, a Cabinet decision and a new pay scale would show delivery. The last general public-service adjustment was the two-year cost-of-living rise from 8 July 2023 under the previous government: 10% for principal officers and below, 5% for those above them to below CEO, and 3% for CEOs and above. 6
- Cost
- Not costed; no rate has been set. Estimate from the PSC's personnel budget was just over SAT$200m in 2020/21, so each 10% across the board would be roughly SAT$20m a year, about 1.6% of 2026/27 receipts.
- Verdict for families
- Cuts both ways
- Can it be done?
- A stretch
- Long term
- Mixed long term
- Who gains
- About 5,500 public servants and their families, by an amount the Remuneration Tribunal has yet to recommend; a 10% award on a SAT$200 million-plus payroll would be roughly SAT$20 million a year shared among them. 27
- Who pays
- Taxpayers and future budgets, since the award would be a permanent cost on top of a stated SAT$215.9 million cash deficit, and workers outside the public service get nothing from it. 43
- Assessment
- The 2026/27 budget plans SAT$1,500.6 million of spending against SAT$1,284.7 million of receipts, a stated cash deficit of SAT$215.9 million, and SBS recorded government revenue falling to SAT$1,056.4 million in FY2025/26. 48 The IMF said in July 2026 that extra spending should be temporary and targeted and fiscal safeguards should hold; a permanent across-the-board award is neither, so it is a stretch to pay for. 9 The PSC counted 5,622 public servants in June 2021 and its personnel budget was just over SAT$200 million in 2020/21; a flat percentage rise gives the most tala to the best-paid officers, as the 2023 award recognised by giving 10% to lower grades and 3% to CEOs. 67 A rise would help keep nurses, teachers and clerks when 47% of surveyed firms report workers leaving for overseas schemes, which protects services, but it adds a recurring cost in a year of falling revenue and a deficit, so the long-term effect is mixed. 108
Sources (10)
- $6 minimum wage, pay rise for civil servants
- Cabinet Directs Remuneration Tribunal to Prepare Equitable Public Sector Pay Increase and Consult Businesses on Minimum Wage
- All you need to know about the Sāmoa 2025 general elections
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- Employment Report, June 2026 Quarter
- 2023/2024 Budget Address: “Advancing growth through sustainable pathways conducive to socio-economic welfare and building resilience”
- Office of the Samoa Public Service Commission Annual Report 2020–2021
- Government Finance Statistics, June 2026 Quarter
- 2026 Article IV Consultation for Samoa: IMF Staff Concluding Statement
- SCCI-MDF Labour Migration Survey Report 2025–2026
Projects in this area
- Delivered and working
Satitoa shipyard and slipway reopening
Read more
- What it is
- The Satitoa slipway reopened on 18 January 2024 as the Henry Silva Shipyard, run by the Silva Group under a lease from the government; the 2024/25 budget address described it as a public-private partnership. 12
- Planning
- The budget address describes a partnership with a local company but gives no cost. 1 The company's owner said it holds a 10 to 20-year lease from the government and had spent over SAT$500,000 on the yard; the lease terms and how the company was chosen were not published. 2
- Result
- The budget address reported dry-docking services for ships and fishing boats and jobs for neighbouring villages. 1 The owner said the yard can take boats of up to 1,000 tonnes and that much still needed improving; a Satitoa resident said villagers had been hired. 2 Throughput and financial results have not been published, so whether the public or the company captures the yard's earnings cannot be seen. 12
- Cost
- not published; the operator said it had spent over SAT$500,000 on the yard
- Funded by
- Public-private partnership with the Silva Group under a government lease; split not published
- Visibility
- The budget address describes the partnership but not its contract or price; the lease length and the company's spending come from the company itself. 12
Sources (2)
- Budget Address 2024/2025
- Shipyard brings hope for Satitoa
- Delivered and working
DBS and Samoa Business Hub concessional lending
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- What it is
- Concessional loans for exporters, manufacturers and microbusinesses run through DBS and the Business Hub; recipients are counted but outcomes are not. 12
- Planning
- The 2024/25 budget address reported SAT$8m already lent to 80 medium-sized businesses through DBS and SAT$6m to 951 micro and small businesses through the Business Hub, plus a further SAT$3m DBS lending line and a SAT$3m Business Hub grant for the year. 1 The 2026/27 budget address raised the DBS concessional facility from SAT$10m to SAT$15m, the DBS exporter facility from SAT$3m to SAT$5m and the Business Hub facility from SAT$3m to SAT$5m. 2 These are separate years, not a cumulative total. 12
- Result
- Loans are being made: the 2026/27 budget address reported SAT$13m through DBS to 30 businesses in export, manufacturing, commercial agriculture and tourism, and SAT$3m through the Business Hub to 269 microbusinesses. 2 That is about SAT$433,000 per DBS borrower against about SAT$11,000 per microbusiness, so most of the money goes to a few established firms while small traders share a small pot. 2 The facilities began under Fiamē's government and the current government enlarged them. 12 Repayment, survival, jobs and incomes have not been published. 2 Concessional rates are a subsidy from the budget to the borrowers; whether families gain depends on jobs created, which nobody has counted. 2
- Cost
- SAT$8m lent to 80 firms by May 2024; SAT$15m DBS, SAT$5m exporter and SAT$5m Business Hub facilities in 2026/27
- Funded by
- Government budget through DBS and the Business Hub
- Visibility
- Annual appropriations and aggregate recipient counts are published; who borrowed, on what terms, and arrears are not. 12
Sources (2)
- Budget Address 2024/2025
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
What FAST did in 2021 to 2025
- 2021 to 2025Unclear
A pamphlet handed out at a FAST campaign rally in January 2021 promised to grow the economy by 20% and create 20,000 new jobs in five years. 1 No term-end count was published. SBS's 2022 survey found 53,135 employed against 41,142 in 2017, a span covering both governments and the pandemic. 2 MCIL's 2024/25 report gives 117 new apprentices, 61 newly registered foreign-investment enterprises expected to create 512 jobs, and no confirmed placements through its Jobseeker Service despite 73 new registrants. 3
Sources (3)
- Constituents Voice their Opinions and Concerns during Campaign Rally
- 2022 Samoa Labour Force and Child Labour Survey
- MCIL Annual Report 2024/25
- 8 July 2023Unclear
A two-year public-service cost-of-living adjustment announced in the 2023/24 budget address: 10% for principal officers and below, 5% for those above them to below CEO, and 3% for CEOs and above, spread across 2023/24 and 2024/25. 12 Not a 2021 manifesto line.
Sources (2)
- 2023/2024 Budget Address: “Advancing growth through sustainable pathways conducive to socio-economic welfare and building resilience”
- Public Servants Welcome Salary Increase
- 1 July 2024Kept
At a January 2021 campaign rally Laʻauli said FAST would set a minimum wage of SAT$3.50 an hour if it came to power. 1 Cabinet's Minimum Wage Policy 2024 raised the rate, unchanged at SAT$3 since 1 January 2020, to SAT$4 an hour on 1 July 2024, with the remaining 84 sene scheduled for 1 July 2025. 23 MCIL also reported 117 new apprentices in 2024/25 and no confirmed placements through its Jobseeker Service despite 73 new registrants. 2
Sources (3)
- Constituents Voice their Opinions and Concerns during Campaign Rally
- MCIL Annual Report 2024/25
- Samoa minimum wage increases to $4 per hour