Salary benchmark for ministers
March 23rd, 2007
[Update 5 Jan 2012: See our latest post Pay Cut for Prime Minister and Ministers, But Note the Make-Up Pay.]
The Straits Times released some interesting income figures today.
As you may know, the income benchmark for ministers and top civil servants is pegged at 2/3 the median income of all the top 8 earners in these 6 professions: lawyer, accountant, banker, MNC executive, local manufacturer and engineer. These means that we take the 48 top earners (top 8 from 6 groups), sort them according to their income, take the middle guy’s income, and multiply it by 2/3.
Now, the interesting bit is in how much the top earns make. We have these figures from today’s Straits Times:
- Lawyer – $4.29 million
- Account – $3.72 million
- Banker – $3.33 million
- MNC – $2.70 million
- Local Manufacturer – $2.30 million
- Engineer – $0.62 million
The figure given for each profession is the median income of the top 8 earners in that profession. It is equivalent to the average of the top 4th and top 5th earnings.
And yes, the engineer profession has the lowest income. The top engineers make only about a quarter of the next better profession (local manufacturer).
Poor engineers.
Delving deeper, Straits Times also mentioned the income ranges of the top earners:
- Lawyer – $1 million to $6 million
- Accountant – $1 million to $6 million
- Banker – $800k to $6 million
- MNC – $300k to $4 million
- Local Manufacturer – $250k to $3 million
- Engineer -$200k to $800k
Now, is this better or worse? The no. 1 engineer can’t even match the 8th accountant and 8th lawyer! He is making only what the poorest benchmarked banker is making.
This is a sad day for all engineers.
Students - Have you thought about your future career? | Salary.sg - Your Salary in Singapore Says:
May 12th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
[...] want concrete evidence? Consider the 6 professions that ministerial salaries are benchmarked against. The highest paid engineers are a far cry from the highest paid lawyers, accountants, MNC [...]
Secret of Singapore’s success | Salary.sg - Your Salary in Singapore Says:
May 17th, 2007 at 12:40 am
[...] But what is noteworthy is that the average Korean Cabinet member takes home about only half that amount. A “Cabinet member” is the equivalent of our minister. (See also salary benchmark for Singapore ministers.) [...]
Luck plays a part in income | Salary.sg - Your Salary in Singapore Says:
June 2nd, 2007 at 11:14 am
[...] top engineers earn much less than the top lawyers (which is also mentioned in my previous post on ministerial salary benchmark). “The public is told that top lawyers earn astronomical amounts. And that top engineers earn [...]
lp Says:
October 13th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
so what makes the Govt think that top civil servant deserve to be protected by benchmarking their salaries to the top earners? those brilliant civil servants may earn high salaries but may not be among the top earners if they were not in Govt. They may turn out to be top engineers then they will be earning much less right?
High Earners In Civil Service | Salary.sg - Your Salary in Singapore Says:
December 12th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
[...] They hold political appointments and are not actually part of the Civil Service (though their pay is quite astounding too, but that’s another [...]
4 Highly Paid Professions | Salary.sg - Your Salary in Singapore Says:
December 20th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
[...] their earnings for the previous [...]
terence Says:
September 25th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Top professionals like lawyers charge $600 to $1000 per hour but I understand that they make multi-million dollar salaries based on leading a team of junior staff and using them for major cases. The mark up on such staff is huge – the hourly salary of such staff may be $40 per hour but their work may be billed at 5-10 times this rate to the client.
master universe Says:
September 16th, 2010 at 12:39 am
The reason why Lawyers, Accountants are the top earners is that these are the rainmakers who bring clients and new deal flow to the firms. This way, they (law partners, auditing partners) earn a cut of the revenues they bring in. Of course lawyers charge a leg and a foot for their service. Auditors generate their massive revenue by volume (since not everyone needs a lawyer but everyone certainly needs an auditor annually).
master universe Says:
September 16th, 2010 at 12:41 am
The problem with people in the Government is that they are normally academics or government scholars (PSC, President’s) who are earmarked for leadership roles in the Government. These people lack the private practice experience to be in the Government in my opinion.
Cabinet member salary Says:
December 18th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
[...] Salary benchmark for ministers | Salary.sg – Your Salary in Singapore A “Cabinet member” is the equivalent of our minister. (See also salary benchmark for Singapore ministers.) [...] Luck plays a part in income | Salary.sg Salary benchmark for ministers | Salary.sg – Your Salary in Singapore [...]
The elephant in the room that will destroy Singapore. | visakan veerasamy. Says:
April 22nd, 2011 at 4:47 pm
[...] Extrinsic motivation and financial incentives are culturally dominant in Singapore. Salary.sg: Salary benchmark for ministers [...]
pinkie Says:
May 15th, 2011 at 11:29 am
do you all notice that most of our ministers
are ENGINEER by training ?? wah, not bad lah for
career swithch to be politicans !!
my daughter just started worked as a lawyer,
she gets home the earliest is 10.30pm. Her usual
time is 12.00 mid night or past 3.00am .
I have watched hundreds of Korean drama while waiting for her to come home since jan 2011.
come on, how can they compare lawyers, bankers etc..Do they work past mid night every day ?
The Wee family of UOB takes 50 yrs of 3 generations
to build UOB going through world war 2 and crisis
after crisis, pls don’t think we are idots !!
After GE2011′result,our PM should really seriously
thinking of cutting the expensive Mahogeny Cabinet
and reduced to plywood instead. Take a referendum
and see whether singaporeans agree with their high
salaries ?!