SDS: Recruitment Agency
specialising in recruitment services for japanese speaking job seekers in Singapore

Year 2011 grads earn 5-digit salaries

While university students in Japan are enjoying their summer holiday, their counterparts in Singapore are either graduating or starting their new academic term.

It is interesting that the salary for new grads in Singapore is being disclosed publicly.

The Straits Times newspaper reported at the end of July that the top five earners for the 2011 graduate cohort are from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Though newly-minted graduates, they are already earning five-figure salaries, the highest being S$20,000 a month.

In addition, NTU proudly revealed that two-thirds of its total 9,066 graduates – the largest graduating class in the university’s history – have already found jobs before their graduation.

NTU's Accounting graduate Clarence Lew, 23, was offered a job as a sales analyst by a top-tier investment bank. He declined to give his exact salary, but said it is close to S$10,000.

One NTU graduate in computer engineering will be paid a starting salary of S$10,000 as a software engineer.

The rise of salaries for new graduates in Singapore appears to be in tandem with the country’s rising inflation. In this light, it is worthwhile noting that the highest salary last year was earned by law graduates from the National University of Singapore – with the monthly average of only S$5,000.