written by - Han Chan Lyung

In the past instalments of this series on the Fresh graduate hiring, we have covered the reasons and benefits of hiring them and the timeline of their graduation and job search process.

This fourth part of our series will focus on the change over time in their starting salary and the rough estimate for the next graduates. The data is derived from the annual Graduate Employment Survey published by MOM consisting of datasets from a self-reported survey of students from Singapore’s autonomous Universities (NUS, STU, SUSS, SIT, SMU, SUTD) and reports on the Gross salary (Basic salary, employee CPF, AWS, and VB).

The table below shows the change in average starting salary based on the types of degrees (Art, Business, etc.) within the 6 years from 2016 to 2021. This data is based on the annually published GES Survey data. Therefore, it is not up to date with the latest batch of graduates who secured their job this year (Their salary data will be made available in 2023 February). However, we can estimate the starting salary of 2022 graduates using the trend and the market condition.

Past trends

The starting salary for 2016 graduates ranges from $2,800 to $3,800, the Arts, Design, and Media type degrees earning the lowest and Information and Digital Technology graduates earning the highest. The earnings ranking does not change much by 2021, with only difference observed among Humanities and Social Science (Sociology, Economics, Psychology) overtaking Health Science to become the third place, while health science dropped down to sixth place in the ranking. With Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) taking fourth place by 2021. However, when we look at the total change over time, we see a different trend where Arts, Design, and Media increase by $700 or 25%, seeing the second-highest starting salary growth after Information and Digital Technologies. This increase in the starting salary reflects the change in demand for such skills. As Singapore sees continued investment into IT and digital infrastructure, and capabilities, and the need for companies to have a digital presence on video-sharing platforms (YouTube, Social Networking Service), the growth of starting salary for these two groups, will see a more rapid rise over the next few years. 

With the Consumer Price Index (Headline Inflation) having stayed low at a total increase of 2.82% from March 2016 to March 2022, or 0.5% per annum annualised, we can say that all degrees have observed a real increase in their starting salary.

Starting salary for 2022 and 2023 graduates
The following table shows the estimated starting salary for the 2022 graduates, and the estimates are based on the following criteria.

Low: Based on the annualised increase for the past 5 years.
Mid: Low + Higher CPI of 5.4% YOY March 2021 to March 2022.
High: Mid + increase in demand for job categories matching given degree types.

When it comes to 2023 graduates, the global uncertainties make it difficult for us to predict. With the potential recession, increased global conflict, and increasing interest rates, we may not observe as much change in the starting salary for 2023 graduates as we did in 2023. However, a continued supply-side shock increased Singapore’s security as the regional hub for business, and the increased movement of foreign capital into Singapore may have a positive impact as well. At this point, it is too early for us to try and estimate the starting salary of the 2023 graduates. However, as we move closer to the date of these graduates beginning their job search, we will write another article covering the topic!