Despite The Bad Economy, Singapore's Fresh Grads Are Earning Over RM10k A Month
The entry salary for graduates from three of Singapore's oldest universities has increased.
By John Lim — 24 Feb 2017, 05:22 PM
The entry salary for students who graduated from Singapore's universities last year has raised to a new high, according to the results of a survey
The joint survey employment survey, by National University of Singapore (NUS), National Technological University (NTU), and Singapore Management University (SMU), found that graduates from the class of 2016 are earning a median starting pay of SGD3,360 (RM10,622), a bump from last year's SGD3,300 (RM10,432).
According to The Straits Times, the survey polled 10,904 out of 13,953 fresh graduates from NTU, NUS and SMU in November last year, about six months after they completed their final examinations.
The infographic below shows the salary increase for different courses in the three universities
Information systems and computer science graduates from NUS have the highest median gross salary out of the lot at SGD4,000 (RM12,653).
At NTU, linguistics and sociology graduates received a bump of 12.2 and 12 percent increase respectively - allowing them to earn at least SGD3,300 (RM10,473) per month.
Although SMU had the lowest increase out of the three, its graduates are comfortably earning between SGD3,500 (RM11,070) - SGD3,700 (RM11,702) per month.
The survey also found that nine in 10 graduates (89.7 percent) were able to secure employment within six months of finishing school
The stat is pretty similar to 89.5 percent rate in 2015.
Due to different academic calendars, other universities like the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) will conduct their surveys in February and March
A NTU professor backed up the results claiming that the weak and struggling economy will have little to no effect on employment
"Demand for our fresh graduates remained consistently high even during weak economic growth. It shows that employers appreciate NTU’s highly skilled graduates and are willing to pay them well," Professor Tan Ooi Kiang, NTU’s associate provost (undergraduate education) said as quoted by HumanResources.
On the local front, entry jobs can range from RM1,000 to RM5,000 depending on the industry, market demand and supply, the academic grades, unique skills, and experiences of the candidate
