This is the 2012 edition of our ever-popular list of 100 best-paying jobs in Singapore.
The Ministry of Manpower has just released Report on Wages in Singapore 2011 (released 29 June 2012). We use the wage data in this report to generate our Top 100 Jobs ranking table.
The MOM wage data exclude bonuses and profit sharing. You may also wish to note that “(t)he wages for certain occupations, especially those where performance-based bonuses constitute a significant portion of total wage, would be lower than expected. Examples of such occupations are brokers, dealers and senior management staff.”
Without further ado, we present the top 100 best-paying jobs in Singapore. The wage numbers are the third-quartile monthly gross wages.
- Managing director/ Chief executive officer – $29,102
- Foreign exchange dealer/ Broker – $22,302
- Marketing and sales representative (institutional sales of financial products) – $20,834
- Trade broker (including oil and bunker trader) – $19,500
- Company director – $17,142
- Financial/ Investment adviser – $15,500
- Chief operating officer/ General manager – $15,005
- Commodities derivatives broker – $15,000
- Ship broker – $15,000
- Creative director (advertising) – $14,750
- University lecturer – $14,000
- Real estate agent – $13,952
- Software and applications manager – $12,280
- Advocate/ Solicitor – $12,213
- Lawyer (excluding advocate and solicitor) – $10,900
- Financial/ Insurance services manager (eg financial institution branch manager) – $10,250
- Chemical engineer – $10,105
- Network and communications manager – $10,024
- IT service manager – $9,999
- General practitioner/ physician – $9,963
- Research and development manager – $9,685
- Legal officer – $9,624
- Editor (news and periodicals) – $9,500
- Journalist – $9,441
- Chief information officer/ Chief technology officer – $9,405
- Marketing and sales representative (ICT) – $9,396
- Risk analyst (financial) – $9,335
- Treasury manager – $9,160
- Budgeting and financial accounting manager (including financial controller) – $9,150
- Business development manager – $9,100
- Technical/ Engineering services manager (eg shipyard manager) – $9,078
- Policy and planning manager – $9,000
- Human resource manager – $8,491
- Customer service manager – $8,462
- Securities and finance dealer/ broker – $8,367
- Wholesale trade manager – $8,243
- Sales and marketing manager – $8,125
- Management and business consultant – $7,982
- Quality assurance manager – $7,848
- Procurement/ Purchasing manager – $7,804
- Manufacturing plant/ production manager – $7,652
- Premises and facilities maintenance manager – $7,638
- Insurance sales agent/ broker (including independent financial planner) – $7,632
- Advertising/ Public relations manager – $7,600
- Information technology project manager – $7,570
- Business services and administration manager (excluding manager in finance, administration, HR, policy and planning) – $7,535
- Administration manager – $7,100
- Instrumentalist – $7,078
- Health services manager – $7,027
- Chief/ Executive cook – $7,000
- Education manager – $6,998
- Producer (stage, film, television, computer games, video and radio) – $6,970
- Supply and distribution/ Logistics/ Warehousing manager – $6,822
- Database architect – $6,817
- Building and construction project manager – $6,800
- Building architect – $6,800
- Industrial safety engineer – $6,790
- Pharmacologist and related professional – $6,790
- Systems analyst – $6,674
- Surveyor – $6,672
- Fund manager – $6,603
- Financial analyst (eg equities analyst, credit analyst) – $6,565
- Transport operations manager – $6,500
- Art and craft instructor (extracurriculum) – $6,500
- Telecommunications engineer – $6,456
- Medical scientist – $6,436
- Database administrator – $6,435
- Advertising salesman – $6,348
- Insurance underwriter – $6,262
- Network/ Infrastructure architect and engineer – $6,235
- Pharmacologist – $6,187
- Chemical engineering technician – $6,182
- Information technology security specialist – $6,100
- Software, web and multimedia developer – $6,065
- Environmental engineer – $5,854
- Artistic director (stage, film, television and radio) – $5,834
- Electronics engineer – $5,756
- Marketing and sales representative (medical and pharmaceutical products) – $5,693
- Civil engineer – $5,690
- Biomedical engineer – $5,687
- Auditor (accounting) – $5,668
- Electrical engineer – $5,593
- Interior designer – $5,500
- Mechanical engineer – $5,440
- Market research analyst – $5,407
- Author and related writer – $5,346
- Mathematician, actuary and statistician (including operations research analyst) – $5,339
- Pharmacist – $5,330
- Accountant – $5,240
- Quantity surveyor – $5,200
- Network/ Computer systems administrator – $5,180
- Human resource consultant (excluding executive search consultant) – $5,173
- Industrial and production engineer – $5,100
- Book editor – $5,075
- Catering services manager – $5,050
- Application/ Systems programmer – $5,023
- Petroleum/ Natural gas engineer – $4,955
- Chemist – $4,945
- Information technology testing/ quality assurance specialist – $4,800
- Ships’ engineer – $4,765
Compare the above with our previous Top Jobs List, which garnered a respectable 927 likes from Facebook.
30 Comments
in case you’re wondering, government ministers and permanent secretaries are missing in the list.
i remember someone commented previously that you need to add up the top 10 to get a sense of what they are getting… heheehe
I think this report is a scam. Like a Nigerian Scam. I earn the most from all $800.
hey joker,
you forgot about the PASTORS and POP STARS.
sorry, i should add, POP STAR WANNABE FAILURE
Also this is only covering “CPF” contributing people. Also not quite sure whether it includes MNC’s or simply local firms. So kind of pretty skewed data
aren’t we all mostly “CPF contributing” people?
do you wanna compare with low wage workers like cleaners? but i think they also have CPF.
or do you mean those people who technically don’t hold jobs but make lots of money dabbling in investments? people like Peter Lim (not the sex offender) comes to mind.
how they calculate the “pay”?
Is it just the basic pay (exclusive any bonus)
or
Is it Annual salary/12
you sure this report is accurate?
Nice to know… Our’s Number 3
Marketing and sales representative (institutional sales of financial products) – $20,834
This is so not true looking at all the salary data reports..
Reports from HR consultancies gave even higher numbers. Which one to believe?
Hmmm … Software and applications manager, and IT Service Manager both earn more than CIO/CTO?
Accountant – $5,240 – this is too good to be true but unfortunately i didnt even earn tt much after working fot 3 years.
looks like the salary for University lecturer increased from 8200 (2009) to 14000 (2012), is it possible?
Guys, you all miss out this:
“The wage numbers are the third-quartile monthly gross wages.”
These values are all based on the top 25% of that income group. I think the average value of the income group should be around half of that.
Even real estate agent earn so much?
Doctors & lawyers are not even in the top 10 wage-earner! Study so hard for what?
Real estate agents earn as much as university lecturers! The only PhD you need is poor, hungry, desperate!
I’m a trainee lawyer. I don’t know how this table is calculated, but fresh lawyers are paid AT LEAST $5k per month with yearly increments of $1k. Our career track is very predictable and stable, ie if you stick around for 6 years, you’re guaranteed to make $10k+ per month. Our median salary is certainly very high. Which other professions rival ours in stability and median income? Not many.
Also, it seems like this table only covers CPF-contributing employees. The highest-earning lawyers are partners in law firms – they’re considered self-employed persons and they don’t get paid under CPF. I would think that law firm partners were excluded from this table; many of them easily command $30k – $40k a month.
Information technology security specialist – $6,100 ???
Software, web and multimedia developer – $6,065 ???
Information technology testing/ quality assurance specialist – $4,800 ???
Are you serious??? So far most I see for even very experienced ones in the private sector only get ard 4.5k max…. 2.7k starting
What are the 100 lowest paid jobs? Lowest monthly pay for a Singaporean working full time?
Hi there everyone, it’s my first pay a quick visit at this web site,
and paragraph is really fruitful for me, keep up posting these
types of articles or reviews.
Hi
Greetings of the day!
Thanks for sharing this informative post. I like it very much.