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Professionals and Managers – Is Your Pay above the Median?

August 30th, 2009

If you’re a working professional in your late thirties, the median gross salary in your age group is $5,048/mth.

Managers in the same age group make a median pay of $6,500.

This is according to the Ministry of Manpower’s Report on Wages 2008 (released middle of this year).

Here are the stats for the various age groups:

  1.  25-29 age group: Managers $3,860, Professionals $3,416
  2. 30-34 age group: Managers $5,225, Professionals $4,269
  3. 35-39 age group: Managers $6,500, Professionals $5,048
  4. 40-44 age group: Managers $7,150, Professionals $5,536
  5. 45-49 age group: Managers $7,480, Professionals $5,800

Is your pay above the median?

And here are the top 22 managerial and professional jobs ranked by their median gross wages in the late-thirties age group:

  1. Specialised surgeon – $26,250
  2. Advocate and solicitor – $12,243
  3. Managing director – $12,000
  4. Fund manager – $11,854
  5. General manager – $11,459
  6. Company director – $10,515
  7. Business management consultant – $9,619
  8. Legal officer – $8,725
  9. Treasury manager – $8,500
  10. Risk management manager – $8,209
  11. General physician – $8,176
  12. Legal service manager – $8,015
  13. Chemical engineer (Petroleum) – $7,854
  14. Operations manager (Finance) – $7,800
  15. Computer operations and network manager – $7,107
  16. Budgeting and financial accounting manager – $7,021
  17. Research and development manager – $7,000
  18. Computer and information systems manager – $6,779
  19. Creative director (Advertising) – $6,625
  20. Business development manager – $6,500
  21. Information technology security specialist – $6,498
  22. Marketing manager – $6,495

Also deserving of mention are: Corporate Planning Manager and Training Manager (each >$8,500 in the early-forties age group), and University Lecturer (>$7,500 in the late-forties age group).

See also my list of the 100 best-paying jobs.

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Top Primary Schools 2009

August 22nd, 2009

The following is the Salary.sg list of top primary schools for this year.

Ranking is done based on the vacancies available after the all-important Phase 2B. Refer to last year’s ranking for details.

The 6 schools in boldface offer the Gifted Education Programme (GEP). The other 3 GEP schools not in this top-20 list are: Tao Nan (ranked 21st), Rosyth (24th) and Raffles’ Girls Primary (33rd).

The majority of these top 20 schools were overscribed during the 2009 Phase 2B application, i.e. there were more applications than places in the phase.

The exceptions are: Henry Park Primary, Red Swastika, Maha Bodhi, Pei Chun Public, Bukit Panjang Primary and Fairfield Methodist Primary.

For these 6 schools, no child was turned away during Phase 2B. There were more places than applications. So, parents, take note!

  1. Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) – 11% vacancies available after Phase 2B
  2. Nanyang Primary - 12%
  3. Catholic High - 13%
  4. Henry Park Primary - 14%
  5. Red Swastika – 15%
  6. Ai Tong – 15%
  7. St Hilda’s Primary - 15%
  8. South View Primary – 15%
  9. Rulang Primary – 17%
  10. Maha Bodhi – 18%
  11. Nan Hua Primary - 18%
  12. Methodist Girls’ School (Primary) – 18%
  13. CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ – 18%
  14. Pei Chun Public – 18%
  15. Temasek Primary – 20%
  16. Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) – 20%
  17. Kong Hwa – 20%
  18. Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary – 22%
  19. Bukit Panjang Primary – 23%
  20. Fairfield Methodist Primary – 23%
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Again, President’s Scholars Not Doing Engineering or Science

August 16th, 2009

Congratulations to the latest batch of President’s Scholars. But like last year’s batch, not a single one of them will be doing a science or engineering related course.

In a way, this confirms the doom of science and technology careers in Singapore.

In fact, four of the six President’s Scholars this year will read Economics.

Although Economics is classified as a social science and can be a very mathematical subject (especially in the US), it’s more about the movement of money than constructing useful things.

It’s about the money.

Engineers like Lee Bee Wah can claim that some high earners have engineering degrees but the fact remains that none of the best-paying jobs here require an engineering degree.

The “dumping ground” courses in NUS and NTU are also dominated by engineering courses.

With all respect, I’m guessing that the bulk of Ms Lee’s income actually comes from her non-engineering work.

As a Member of Parliament, Ms Lee receives $190,000 in allowance per year, which is easily much higher than that of the best-paying engineering-related job (Computer operations and network manager).

I’m not sure how much pay she receives in her current full-time job as a “Principal Partner, LBW Consultants / LBW Consultants LLP”, or in her previous job as an “Asst. Project Manager, Wing Tai Property Management Ptd Ltd” (reference: her CV).

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Millionaire Forummer Shares Experience and Gives Valuable Advice

August 13th, 2009

Frank sharing and valuable insights from a guest (thanks!) in our Salary.sg Forums, in response to a list of questions I posed in an old article on how to get rich:
- How did you make your first million?
“Made my first million i think around 30 or 31 years old. Graduated from uni in 1999, started [...]

Read the full article at Millionaire Forummer Shares Experience and Gives Valuable Advice

100 Best Jobs in Singapore (2009)

August 9th, 2009

I have two lists this year – one for the top jobs across all industries and a separate one specifically for the financial services industry, just to show how skewed the numbers are.
This is the 2009 edition of my annual list(s) of the best 100 jobs in terms of pay (see last year’s edition).
The lists [...]

Read the full article at 100 Best Jobs in Singapore (2009)

Our Poll Results: 64% Singaporeans “Hit” by Recession

August 1st, 2009

In an online poll conducted here, 64% of participants indicated they know someone who’s lost a job.

Close to 500 readers participated in the survey.
Conducted over half a month, this poll is done in the same spirit as a BBC Poll we discussed previously.
And our poll results are very similar to the UK one.
Since BBC is [...]

Read the full article at Our Poll Results: 64% Singaporeans “Hit” by Recession

Stocks and Property Recovering (see graph)

July 25th, 2009

This recession is perhaps the most “prosperous” recession we have ever seen, thanks to all the liquidity injected into the global monetary system and our government’s pump priming of the local economy with infrastructure projects, jobs credit and low interest rates.
The STI index closed today at a 10-month high of 2,533.43.
And URA reported a better-than-estimated [...]

Read the full article at Stocks and Property Recovering (see graph)

Telemarketer Makes 20k

July 19th, 2009

Flip to page 8 of Sunday Times and read about an ex-telemarketer making $20,000 every month working for Citibank and DBS:
“From 2000 to 2003, he was a telemarketer for Citibank and DBS Bank and earned a monthly salary of $20,000. He thought nothing of splurging on high-end labels like Louis Vuitton…”  
I’m not sure if telemarketers [...]

Read the full article at Telemarketer Makes 20k

Know Anyone Retrenched?

July 15th, 2009

With rising GDP and record housing prices, and talk of “dual economy“, this recession seems not so much of a recession at all.
Unless you have lost your job.
A BBC poll says two-thirds of the people in UK are “hit” by the downturn. What they mean is that about 67% of the people know someone who [...]

Read the full article at Know Anyone Retrenched?

Property Prices Out of Whack

July 11th, 2009

The HDB resale price index has set a record high of 140.0 according to HDB’s flash estimate released early this month.
More than half a year into Singapore’s “worst” recession and after private property prices crashed more than 20%, the resilient HDB prices manage to buck the trend and even set a national record – the [...]

Read the full article at Property Prices Out of Whack