Related Articles

Best Paying Jobs And Sectors For Graduates In Singapore

Want to know the average salary for your position in Singapore? Here is the latest list of up-to-date, quality salary surveys according to salary levels and employment trends. Some of the best paying careers in Singapore are in the sectors such as medicine, management, finance, administrative, law, engineering and shipping sector.

To secure a senior executive position, candidates should ideally possess an postgraduate qualification from an internationally accredited universities, An MBA in Singapore or an Executive Master of Science program will be highly desirable to ensure excellent career options. Most established business schools in Singapore including INSEAD, Chicago and Baruch college, The City University of New York also offer excellent executive and career placement programs where major MNCs and agencies are invited to their networking sessions.


A brief list of best paying careers along with indicative monthly salaries is given below:

Doctors and Physician:

While specialized surgeons and neurosurgeons are the highest paid, general physicians and surgeons are paid less.

Specialized surgeon - $ 30,755 General Surgeon - $ 17,872 General Physician - $ 6,173

Managerial Posts:

The list below is indicative that may vary with experience and responsibility of job. A management qualification or MBA is desirable or compulsory for most positions.

Managing Director - $24,472 General Manager - $16,667 Company Director - $15,513 Operations Manager (Finance) - $9,808 Computer and Information System Manager - $8,930 Personnel/ Human Resource Manager - $8,420 Business Development Manager - $ 8,290 Marketing Manager - $8000 Advertising and Public Relations Manager - $7,533 Sales Manager - $7,100

Finance:

This was the most lucrative sector to work as per data released on 2008. Recession may have taken a hit but still it remains most lucrative sector to build a career.

Commodities and Futures Broker - $17,464 Foreign Exchange Dealer and Broker - $11,095 Fund Manager - $8,125 Budgeting and Financial Accounting Manager - $8,000 Personal Banker - $ 6,250 Financial Analyst - $6,000 Securities Dealer and Broker - $5,750 Actuary - $5,100 Credit Analyst - $4,631

Law:

Legal Service Manager - $12,318 Legal Officer - $9,790 Lawyer (Except advocate and solicitor) - $7,400

Engineering:

Engineers are not highly paid in Singapore. As a result, some shift to other career options with MBA and some go for sales.

Power Generation and Distribution Engineer - $7,848 Chemical Engineer (Petrochemical) - $7,547 Automation Engineer - $6,680 Instrumentation Engineer - $6,616 Marine Superintendent Engineer - $6,340 Aeronautical Engineer - $5,242 Production Engineer - $5,091 Civil Engineer - $4,746 Electrical Engineer - $ 4,665 Electronics Engineer - $4615

Shipping:

Career in shipping sector is well paid.

Ship-master - $8,671 Shipping Manager - $5,721 Naval Architect - $5,480 Ship rigger - $4,933

Others:

Producer/ Director of Commercials - $5,150 Market Research Analyst - $5,174 Sales Representative (Medical and pharmaceutical products) - $4,801 Flight Operations Officer - $4,801

The list above is prepared as per data provided by MoM (Ministry of Manpower) Government of Singapore in 2008. To generate the indicative monthly salary, the third-quartile monthly gross wages has been taken into account. Performance bonuses, profit sharing and stock options are not included in the indicative average monthly salary.

Top executives in MNC, accountants, lawyers, bankers took home more than $4 million (Iras year of Assessment 2007). Median income for top 8 earners in MNCs was $4.86 million per annum, for lawyers (mainly advocates and solicitors) it was $4.65m followed by bankers ($4.40m) and accountants ($4.40m).

While top doctors and architects make a lot of money, engineers continue to be underpaid with a mere $0.75/annum. As per survey by Singapore Medical Association, median monthly income for a doctor is $13,758. Average of top 4th and 5th earners is taken to calculate meridian income.