Salary.sg – Your Salary in Singapore

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.

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%

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).

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:
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