A Tale Of Two Wages: Pay Rise Can Go Up To 15% Whilst Expats' Salaries Fall 15%

Majority of the sectors in Singapore are poised for a stable rate of salary increases at 3%-15% this year. On another end of the spectrum, expats’ salaries are on a continuous decline.

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Looking at the bigger picture of Singapore’s recruitment and hiring environment, majority of the sectors are poised for a stable rate of salary increases, which spells good news for employees and job seekers. For the accounting and finance sector, a report by Robert Walters noted that professionals in this sector are likely to get 10% to 15% salary increase in the next 12 months after registering modest levels of hiring in 2017 as more companies underwent restructuring, streamlining, and outsourcing of their accounting functions.

Recruitment for Singapore’s human resources sector, however, remained stagnant in 2017, according to Robert Walters, especially for mid-to-senior level positions as companies continue to streamline HR teams and the ongoing trend of offshoring administration functions.

The IT sector, will see a high level of demand for business and consumer-facing professionals who have deep learning and machine learning skills, with the rising trends of digital transformation, technological innovation, and artificial intelligence. Employers in the sector will also look for UX/UI professionals, particularly on front-end development, as well as cybersecurity experts. In terms of salary, increase is expected to be between 5% to 15%.

For the legal sector, hiring trend was relatively stagnant in 2017 compared to 2016 partly due to stringent requirements for recruiting legal professionals. Year-onyear salary increases ranged between 3% to 7% on average, and this is expected to continue in the next 12 months. For the sales and marketing sector, on the other hand, hiring levels remained positive within the fast market and consumer goods, retail, luxury, and healthcare segments in 2017. Candidates proficient in corporate strategy development and strategic innovation will be in demand, particularly in the healthcare segment. Salary increases are likely to be between 10% to 15% on average.