Ministerial Salary Review Committee’s recommendations at Press Release

Revised ministerial wages after recommended salary cut

1. President’s annual salary to be cut by 51%, to S$1.54 million.
2. Prime Minister’s annual salary to be cut by 36%, to S$2.2 million.
3. Entry level minister’s annual salary to be cut by 37% to S$1.1 million.
4. Mayor and Senior Parliamentary Secretary positions’ annual salary to be cut by 20% to S$660,000 and S$572,000 respectively.
5. Speaker of Parliament’s annual salary to be cut by 53% to S$550,000.
6. Member of Parliament (MP)’s annual allowance will be 17.5% of the entry level minister (MR4) benchmark, i.e. to be cut by 3% to S$192,500.

Ministerial pay review: President, Speaker, Dy Speaker, MP, NCMP and NMP new salaries/allowances

Ministerial pay review: Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, MR1, MR2, MR3, MR4, Senior Minister of State (SMS), Minister of State (MOS), Mayor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (SPS) and Parliamentary Secretary (Parl Sec) new salaries

Change in ministerial bonus after recommended pay cut

Remove GDP bonus and replace it with a National Bonus. The recommended National Bonus should comprise of four key performance indicators: (i) unemployment rate, (ii) real median income growth, (iii) GDP growth and (iv) the real income growth of the bottom 20 per cent of wage earners.

Pay package components and bonuses of Singapore’s political appointment holders

Recommendations to remove ministers’ pension scheme

The Ministerial Salary Review Committee recommended that the prime minister and ministers’ pensions be removed. The pension should also be abolished for all other political appointment holders. Only the Central Provident Fund system should be adopted.

New Formula to calculate the revised ministerial pay

In the past, the ministers’ salaries were pegged to the median income of the top 48 earners in Singapore, and implemented with a one-third discount. Based on the latest recommendations, the pay will be pegged to the median income of the top 1,000 earners who are Singapore citizens, before applying a 40% discount.

New pay formula framework

Members of Parliament debate

This is what Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said about the Committee’s recommendations:

The Government intends to accept your Committee’s recommendations. We will publish your report as a White Paper, and move a motion in Parliament on 16 January 2012 to adopt it as the basis for setting political salaries.

The Government had earlier indicated that if there are to be any changes, the ministers’ new salaries would be effective retroactively from 21 May 2011. The changes to the salary of the President will kick-in from 1 September 2011, the beginning of President Tony Tan’s first term.

Check back to this Salary Singapore blog post for more updates on the news related to the ministerial pay review.

Source: The full report by the Review Committee is found here. Some of the tables were adapted from TOC here.

These Big 4 firms are supported by a global network of talents and a large network of professionals who are paid very competitive salary.

Despite the confidential nature of salary, many online forums in Singapore contain much discussions which provide good estimates of the audit firms’ salary in Singapore, the progression and promotion pathways, number of working experiences required and a good dose of complaints about the demanding work nature which result in the high turnover in the accounting industry.

2011/2012 Big 4 Salary Range, Pay Increase for Different Job Titles

Job title/grade: Associate Year 1 or A1
Pay scale: S$2,700 to S$2,900 will be the starting pay for fresh graduates with accounting degrees or ACCA qualifications

Job title/grade: Associate Year 2 or A2
Pay scale: S$3,000 to S$3,200

Job title/grade: Senior Associate Year 1 or S1
Pay scale: S$3,500 to S$4,000

Job title/grade: Senior Associate Year 2 or S2
Pay scale: S$4,200 to S$4,800

Job title/grade: Senior Associate Year 3 or S3 / Assistant Manager or AM
Pay scale: S$5,000 to S$5,600

Job title/grade: Manager or M1/M2/M3
Pay scale: S$6,000 to S$9,000

Job title/grade: Senior Manager or SM1/SM2/SM3 / Associate Director or AD
Pay scale: S$8,000 to S$15,000

Job title/grade: Director
Pay scale: More than S$15,000

Job title/grade: Partner
Pay scale: More than S$20,000 with profit sharing / bonus

Based on information shared by existing employees and past alumni of the firms, annual progression within the firm from a fresh Associate to Senior Associate to Assistant Manager should pose little difficulty for most of the staff, if there are no major infractions or “screw ups”. However the real test comes when trying to secure the promotion to Manager position and above. Managers and above are expected to start being accountable for business development work and bring revenue and businesses to the firms, and they are also responsible for the Profit and Loss (P&L) of their projects.

It is not unusual for exceptional top performers to get promoted by jumping grades instead of following the promotion pathways strictly, though it is not that common. More often then not, many auditors will leave the firms when the reach Senior Associate or Assistant Manager positions for the corporate sector. Multinationals (MNCs), banks and increasingly the Singapore government sector are known to value those with Big 4 experiences, and are willing to pay a significant salary premium and even sign-on bonus to get these people to join them. Such competition for accounting talents in the industries plus the hectic lifestyle in the Big Fours account for the high turnover in the firms.

The average salary ranges indicate the basic monthly wages that an auditor or employee working in an audit accounting firm may earn, and the figures exclude the potential dollar value of performance bonuses. It should be noted that most of the firms do not have 13th month bonus, i.e. AWS (annual wage supplement).

Please note that the above salary figures are based on estimates shared in online forums and do not represent the official numbers from the human resources departments of the respective companies mentioned in this article. So please feel free to share your comments on thoughts below to correct or to update the salaries numbers.

I thought it is therefore interesting to note that the role of the modern job resume has more or less remained the same through its 500 years of existence, that is to help you get a job interview, which should hopefully lead you to your high-paying dream job.

Relative to other forms of communication, though, it hasn’t changed all that much. In fact, most of the changes have been merely cosmetic — most employers still require a one-sheet, black-and-white printed resume at interviews, regardless of the fact that we all use email and have had access to much better design options for years now. Not to mention, printing is unnecessary in the digital world we live in. At this point, even the role of cover letters in today’s job market is being scrutinized.

Over the years, the resume has evolved from simple written or printed paper documents, to its digital form today as digital and social media tools flourished in the past ten years. Today increasingly, we are seeing video resumes, social media resumes, infographic resumes and other interesting ideas online.

RezScore created this interesting infographic which showcased the resume’s humble beginnings and how it has evolved into its modern day forms over the last 500 years.

Source.

Ministry of Manpower (MOM) subsequently announced changes to the Employment Pass and S pass schemes which will take effect from 2012. These are measures over and above the foreign workers policy changes in the last few years which included raising the foreign worker levy and tightening the levy tiers significantly, in phases, up to July 2013. The qualifying salaries for S Pass and Employment Pass (EP) were also raised to keep pace with rising salaries of the local workforce.

Latest Employment and S Pass Changes to the Qualifying Salary

The key features of the EP changes are:

Q1 Pass

MOM will tighten the educational qualifications requirements so that only those from good quality institutions will be eligible. They will also move away from the single qualifying salary of $2,800 today. Instead, the applicant will have to earn a salary of at least $3,000, with the requirements depending on his qualifications and experience:

a) Young graduates from good institutions could qualify if they earn at least $3,000

b) Older applicants would have to command higher salaries to qualify, commensurate with the work experience and quality they are expected to bring

P2 Pass

The qualifying salary will be raised from $4,000 to $4,500.

P1 Pass

There will be no change in the qualifying salary for P1 Pass which remains at $8,000.

It should be noted that the new EP framework will retain the flexibility for MOM to consider, on a case-by-case basis, applicants with proven track records and exceptional skills-sets, but who may not have the qualifications required by the enhanced EP framework.

However, MOM reiterated that the Singapore Government continues to be committed to managing the size of the foreign workforce, as part of our broader strategies to achieve productivity-driven economic growth, as well as to ensure that Singaporeans remain at the core of a diverse and globally competitive workforce. The stated aim is to avoid increasing dependence on foreign workers over the long term, by keeping the foreign share of the workforce at about one-third.

MOM source.

Interestingly, the results shown below appear to reinforce the theory of evolutionary psychology, where women engage in long term mating strategies which would maximise their chances of producing offsprings. The studies suggested that women value economic resources, financial prospects and high social status as primary traits that they see in a man.

A summary of the survey results:

American college women will date a man if he earns above the 45% percentile in a population.

American college women will marry a man who earns above 70% percentile.

Let’s make an interesting postulate that Singaporean lady university graduates have the same preferences as American college women.

In Singapore’s context, we can try to assume that the average Singapore women who are degree holders behave in similar fashion to their American counterparts. The estimates by the Intelligent Singaporean below suggested the salary a Singaporean man should be earning before female Singaporean graudates will consider to date them.

Let us begin by supposing that the man would normally contribute 75% of the household income and derive their desired salaries from household income figures in 2003:

To be dating material, a man’s got to earn at least $2,025 per month.

Sexual relationships, a man’s got to earn about $2,530 per month.

Going steady would require about $3,225 per month of income

Only men who make more than $4,000 per month will make the grade to qualify for marriage material.

Survey source. Intelligent Singaporean source.

The changes will probably align the HDB income ceiling closer to the Singapore salary earned by 80% of couples and households in Singapore. This is particularly important for fresh graduates as they have been experiencing increases in income levels and starting pay scales/ranges.

An excerpt of PM Lee’s speech with regards to the announcement is shown below.

… HDB is building many more flats. This year 25,000 BTO flats and I think in recent tenders or recent BTO exercises, the ratio of applicants to flats has gradually been coming down. And we will keep on putting out the supply onto the market. One group who is most worried is those who are earning just below $8,000. It is just below the income ceiling and they fear that they may breach the ceiling. There are more such couples now because people are getting married later, so they are applying for flats when they are more senior in their careers, so their incomes have gone up. There are more women who are working so the family income has also gone up and so they are quite worried because if they are earning $7,500 and you get a promotion, you are not sure whether that is good news or bad news because you may get promoted to $8,500 and then you have to write an appeal to your MP.

We have been studying this for some time, so what we will do is we will raise the HDB ceiling for income per household from $8,000 to $10,000. And for executive condominiums where the ceiling is $10,000 now, we will raise that to $12,000. So we will bring more people into the HDB net and you do not have to worry so much.

As the policy changes will result in greater demand for new HDB flats, PM Lee made the assurances that HDB under Minister Khaw’s leadership will build sufficient flats to cope with the extra demand. In fact, HDB plans to build another 25,000 BTO flats in 2012, same as 2011. The Singapore Government appears confident that with these measures, the demand and prices of new HDB flats will be kept stable and affordable in the medium term.

PMO source.

Previously, the salaries of teachers who have retired was pegged to their last-drawn salary when they were re-employed by the schools. According to MOE, the new scheme will include a one-year renewable contract with monthly pay offered to teachers who are re-hired. These teachers will also be entitled to a year-end engagement bonus, standard annual increments and other bonuses such as a 13th-month bonus.

According media surveys of teachers who are affected, many teachers are unhappy with the changes. As the school principals have the flexibility to negotiate workload with teachers when signing new contracts, this create more uncertainty as teachers may have their salary cut while still bearing the same amount of work as before.

Some people have noted that while the law allows for the pay reduction, it is not compulsory for companies to do so. The Singapore Teachers’ Union (STU) is currently engaging the Ministry to call for a rethink of their policies.

Straits Times source.

The graduate whose monthly starting pay is S$20,000, is reportedly working in the financial sector. This is consistent with the survey findings that some of the highest paid jobs in Singapore are from the banking and finance industry. The other top earner is Mr Lester Lin who is running his own tuition enrichment centre for primary school children. His business helps him draw a monthly pay of S$12,000. The third top NTU fresh grad earner is Ms Tan Yi Fong who is also running her own business. Her online fashion shopping website (aka blog shop) brings home around S$12,000 per month as well.

Other than these 3 person who were profiled, there were other graduates who were working in the banking sector and command salaries of more than S$10,000 per month.

Many forum users wondered why would companies want to pay such high salaries to fresh graduates with almost no working experience (other than some who had internship exposure). There are others who were concerned that such news would set unrealistic expectations for future grads, and may influence more potential university applicants to choose business or finance-related degrees for their study rather than the “hard” subjects such as engineering or IT.

NTU source.

1. JobStreet Singapore

http://www.jobstreet.com.sg/
Since 1995, JobStreet.com has grown to become one of the leading Internet Recruitment websites in the Asia-Pacific, revolutionising the way recruitment is done today. JobStreet.com offers a comprehensive suite of interactive recruitment services. International and local Asian corporations recruit from JobStreet.com’s ever-increasing pool of top talent and manage their recruitment process through uniquely developed software applications via the Internet.

2. JobsDB Singapore

http://sg.jobsdb.com/sg
Founded in 1998 by JDB Holdings Limited, we provide a cost-effective recruitment platform for employers and the fastest job search engine for job seekers in order to pair the most suitable talents with the job vacancies. With our efforts in providing the latest technology, we have gained high reputation in the industry and have become the largest online recruitment platform in Asia Pacific. Over the years, JobsDB.com has built one of the largest and most comprehensive databases in Asia Pacific with over 14.6 million job seeker members and over 220,000 corporate clients. Up to 2 million Job Alerts are sent daily matching job seekers to their job of choice.

3. ST701

http://www.st701.com/
First launched on March 24, 2006 as a job portal, ST701 carries the initials of The Straits Times. The numbers “701” convey what the user will experience: 7 days a week search at the 01 place that matters. In November 2010, ST701 took over the Directory and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) businesses from its associates. While the former serves to let one experience a better and more effective way to find fresh, relevant local business contacts and addresses on the Internet, the latter allows better integration of resources to help give businesses increased exposure online and promote their websites effectively..

4. Monster Singapore

http://www.monster.com.sg/
Life is too short not to enjoy what you do every day. At Monster the goal is to help you make the most of the 80 or 90 years you have on this planet by connecting you to the real world opportunities that can help you achieve your goals and realize your dreams. Whether you’re thinking about a new job, new career, a new city or a new direction… Monster helps you explore the possibilities and find the opportunities that are right for you.

5. Jobs Central Singapore

http://jobscentral.com.sg/
The JobsCentral Group is one of the top providers of jobs, education, scholarships and career information and applications in Singapore. We are well-recognised by employers, schools and jobseekers alike for our innovative and fresh approach to career services. Our comprehensive mix of products and services enables us to reach over 2 million people yearly.

6. eFinancial Careers Singapore

http://www.efinancialcareers.sg/
eFinancialCareers, a Dice Holdings company, serves the global financial community as the leading network of career sites for professionals working in banking and the financial markets and those firms seeking to employ them. For financial services professionals our mission is to provide the best job opportunities, job market news and analysis, salary surveys and career advice. Many recruitment agents from leading job agencies also advertise their openings on this website.

7. Careers@Gov

http://www.careers.gov.sg/
The Singapore Public Service plays a key role in the economic growth, progress and stability of Singapore by formulating and implementing government policies, as well as providing key Public Services. Whether you are a fresh graduate joining the workforce or an experienced professional, the Singapore Public Service offers a great variety of job opportunities for you. The work in the Public Service can be broadly categorised into the following sectors: Economic, Social, Security & External Relations, and Administration & Corporate Development.

Read here for an estimate of the MX salary range and pay scale of Singapore Government Civil Service jobs based on estimates found online.

8. Headhunt Singapore

http://www.headhunt.com.sg/
HeadHunt is an executive recruitment publication and jobs portal targeting middle to senior level professionals fetching an annual income from $50,000 to $250,000. HeadHunt primarily focuses on the sectors of Banking, Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Sales, Marketing, Engineering and Sciences. HeadHunt appeals to the professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETS) who are seeking to advance their careers.

9. Robert Walters Singapore

http://www.robertwalters.com.sg/
Robert Walters is one of the world’s leading specialist professional recruitment consultancies with 45 offices spanning 21 countries. They place candidates on a permanent, contract and interim basis in accountancy & finance, banking operations, legal, information technology, sales & marketing, human resources and support & administration.

10. Robert Half Singapore

http://www.roberthalf.com.sg/
Founded in 1948, Robert Half International (NYSE symbol: RHI) is the world’s leading specialised recruitment firm and the first to provide placement services for accounting, finance and information technology professionals. In Singapore, Robert Half International operates four divisions: Robert Half Finance & Accounting, which specialises in experienced temporary and permanent finance professionals; Robert Half Financial Services Group, which places temporary and permanent banking and financial services professionals; Robert Half Management Resources, which specialises in financial project consultants; and Robert Half Technology, for high-calibre IT professionals.

11. Kerry Consulting Singapore

http://www.kerryconsulting.com/
Kerry Consulting is one of Singapore’s leading recruitment firms specialising in Banking, Financial and Human Resources.

12. Hays Singapore

http://www.hays.sg/main/default.aspx
Hays are the experts in recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people across a wide range of specialised industries and professions. They operate across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. Hays operate in 46 locations throughout Asia Pacific, including seven offices across South East Asia. Hays employ 10,000 temporary workers at any one time and found permanent jobs for 28,000 people last year.

13. Morgan McKinley Singapore

http://www.morganmckinley.com.sg/
As a global professional recruitment consultancy, Morgan McKinley connects specialist talent with leading employers across multiple industries and disciplines. Morgan McKinley operates from 24 offices in 10 countries around the world. Their professional recruitment capability extends right across key markets in Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. They have offices in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands, the UAE, France and the UK and are strategically placed at the heart of key financial centres, as well as regionally within specific countries, giving them thorough coverage of all the markets in which we operate.

14. Michael Page Singapore

http://www.michaelpage.com.sg/
Michael Page International is a leading professional recruitment consultancy specialising in the recruitment of permanent, contract and temporary positions on behalf of the world’s top employers. The Group operates through 148 offices in 32 countries worldwide. First established in London in 1976, they have been bringing job seekers and employers together for more than 30 years. They are listed on the London stock exchange and our turnover exceeds US$1 billion per year. They opened the first office in Singapore in 1996 and currently have offices in all of the main business centres around the world.

15. The GMP Group Singapore

http://www.gmprecruit.com/
Founded in 1991, The GMP Group is one of Asia’s leading staffing and human resource consultancies. Since its inception, the group has progressed to become a regional human capital solutions provider across all industries. With six specialist divisions dedicated to providing industry-specific HR solutions, GMP prides itself as a ‘one-stop’ solution. Today, GMP is headquartered in Singapore with offices in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Shanghai and Thailand. The group’s extensive network and comprehensive services establish GMP’s role as one of the most dynamic staffing professionals in the region.

16. Straits Talent Singapore

http://www.straitstalent.com/
In Straits Talent, their consulting teams have a rich wealth of experience in the executive search industry coupled with industry experience in world class organizations. They strive to be the best in class and adopt a consultative approach in dealing with both clients and candidates.

17. Recruit.net Singapore

http://singapore.recruit.net/
Recruit.net Ltd. is a Hong Kong based company that operates an international network of multilingual job search engines. They provide job seekers with free and instant access to millions of jobs from thousands of companies via one simple search. Their proprietary search technology crawls the internet to find job listings from corporate web sites, job boards, recruitment agencies, newspapers, classifieds and numerous other sources.

18. Indeed Singapore

http://www.indeed.com.sg/
Indeed is the #1 job site worldwide, with over 50 million unique visitors and 1 billion job searches per month. Indeed is available in more than 50 countries and 26 languages, covering 94% of global GDP.

19. Best Jobs Singapore

http://www.bestjobs.com.sg/

20. InternSG

http://www.internsg.com/
InternSG is a Singapore based organization that invites both students and companies from around the world to actively participate in our Singapore Internship Placement program. By having a vast network of companies and students, and meticulous planning on our side, you can be sure that the most appropriate Internship Placements would take place.

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Despite the overall dip, the healthcare and life sciences showed the greatest potential for growth as 67% of those surveyed planned to hire more staff, similar to the last quarter. The Consumer, Advertising and Media sectors reported improving sentiments with 66% planning to increase hires, as compared to 59% previously.

For IT, banking and financial services, and manufacturing and industrial sectors, they showed a decline to 61%, 49% and 44% respectively.

The banking & financial services sector has experienced the steepest fall in expectations year-on-year as only 49% of respondents are hiring this quarter, down from 67% a year ago. As noted in the report, employers in this sector started hiring again after the downturn in 2010 more quickly than their counterparts in other sectors. In addition, many institutions have undertaken internal restructuring, with a focus on upgrading existing roles, which has had an impact on hiring requirements. Some functions are increasingly being undertaken in offshore locations. In fact, it was reported in the media recently that banks such as Credit Suisse and HSBC are planning to cut their global headcount.

SHRI source.

With many graduates expected to join the workforce in quarter 3 of the year, the slow down in the hiring trends maybe a disappointment to some who had hopes of securing high salaries in their first job in Singapore. Despite the challenges, the job and salary outlook in Singapore continues to look robust.