Subscription Modal Banner
Weekly newsletter subscription
Get SingSaver’s top tips and deals, plus an exclusive free guide to investing, sent straight to your inbox.

I agree to the terms and conditions and agree to receive relevant marketing content according to the privacy policy.

Success Tick Icon
Congratulations on successfully joining Singsaver Newsletter

A Comprehensive Guide To Starting Salaries for Fresh Graduates In Singapore (2023)

Marie Cheng

Marie Cheng

Last updated 31 August, 2023
 

These days, fresh university graduates seem to be getting a higher starting pay … at least that’s what it says in the Graduate Employment Survey.

According to the Ministry of Education (MOE) 2022 Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey (GES), some are, in fact, earning S$4,200 to S$5,000 a month in their first job. But how true is that? How many will raise false hopes and expectations based on a catchy news headline? I know I did. 

If there’s one thing to know about me, it’s that I’ve always been a writer. After many years of penning subpar poetry, I began my editorial career at the age of 18. For years, I hustled whilst in school, taking on side gigs and freelance opportunities wherever I found them. By the time I graduated, I’d built up a portfolio that I was convinced could rival that of any veteran in the industry — and therefore command a higher starting salary. 

“With your experience, you’ll easily get a good job that pays at least $4,000 a month. No question about it,” my mother assured me. Coupled with that Straits Times report, I was optimistic about my prospects. Alas, when I finally got around to the job applications, I realised no magazine or copywriting agency was going to offer me anything more than $3,500 a month. 

In fact, the basic pay for writers hovered at around $2,000 to $3,000 a month. How was I supposed to survive on such meagre sums, especially in one of the world’s most expensive cities? 

Spare yourself the rude awakening and manage your expectations of how much you’ll earn as someone new to the workforce. 

Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of the average starting salaries for permanent full-time, entry-level jobs, not including CPF deductions, categorised by university and industry, based on the GES 2022, which polled 12,984 fresh and 1,138 graduates from from six autonomous universities (NUS, NTU, SMU, SUTD, SIT, and SUSS) in November 2022. 

 

Table of contents

Information is updated as of 29 September 2023. Salary adjustments are subject to change at any given time according to economic changes.

🎉SingSaver's March Madness Grand Lucky Draw🎉: Get 2x chances to win a pair of Round Trip Business Class plane tickets to Tokyo (worth S$13,144) when you successfully open a moomoo account. Promo runs from 6 Mar 2024, 5pm, to 31 Mar 2024.  T&Cs apply.

MOOMOO_S$130_BLOGARTICLE_800x250

SingSaver Exclusive Promotion: Receive S$80 Cash via PayNow when you open a moomoo universal account and fund a minimum of S$100. Plus, get an additional S$50 Cash (S$130 total) when you fund S$2000. Valid till 31 March 2024. T&Cs apply.

Also, get up to S$880 worth in rewards and up to 6.8% p.a. returns when you complete additional actions with your Moomoo account. Valid till 1 April 2024. T&Cs apply.

 

By University

NUS graduates

Degree Median Gross Monthly Salary
Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
BA S$3,700
BA (Hons) S$4,000
Bachelor of Social Sciences S$3,600
Faculty of Dentistry
Bachelor of Dental Surgery S$4,200
College of Design and Engineering
BEng, Biomedical Engineering S$4,000
BEng, Chemical Engineering S$4,675
BEng, Civil Engineering S$4,000
BEng, Electrical Engineering S$4,800
BEng, Engineering Science S$4,450
BEng, Environmental Engineering S$4,200
BEng, Industrial and Systems Engineering S$5,000
BEng, Materials Science and Engineering S$4,500
BEng, Mechanical Engineering S$4,525
Faculty of Law
Bachelor of Laws  S$6,400
Faculty of Science
BSc S$3,600
BSc (Hons) S$3,850
BSc, Computational Biology N.A.
BSc, Pharmacy $3,915
BSc, Pharmaceutical Science (Hons) S$3,700
BSc, Data Science and Analytics S$5,500
National University of Singapore Business School
BBA S$5,100
BBA (Hons) S$4,696
BBA, Accountancy S$3,800
BBA, Accountancy (Hons) S$4,000
BSc, Real Estate S$3,850
School of Computing
Bachelor of Computing, Computer Science S$6,600
Bachelor of Computing, Information Security S$5,500
Bachelor of Computing, Information Systems S$5,500
BSc, Business Analytics S$5,500
School of Design & Environment
BA, Architecture S$4,400
BA, Industrial Design S$4,500
BSc, Project and Facilities Management $3,555
BSc, Real Estate $4,062
Yong Loo Lin School (Medicine)
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery N.A.
BSc, Nursing S$3,600
BSc, Nursing (Hons) S$3,850
YST Conservatory of Music
Bachelor of Music  S$3,590
Yale-NUS College
BA with Honours  S$4,600
BSc with Honours S$6,038
Multi-Disciplinary Programmes
BEng, Computer Engineering $6,000
Bachelor of Environmental Studies $3,800

Source: 2022 GES, MOE

Back to top

Make your money work harder for you with the Citi Plus Interest Booster Account! Get up to 2.80% p.a. on your savings when you spend, invest, insure, or take a home loan.



 


NTU Graduates

Degree Median Gross Monthly Salary
College of Business (Nanyang Business School)
Accountancy   S$3,600
Accountancy and Business S$4,942
Business S$4,015
Double Degree in Business and Computer Engineering/Computing S$6,500
College of Engineering
Aerospace Engineering S$5,000
Bioengineering S$4,200
Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering S$4,800
Civil Engineering S$3,650
Computer Engineering S$5,295
Computer Science S$5,500
Data Science and Artificial Intelligence S$5,625
Double Degree in Engineering and Economics S$5,000
Electrical & Electronic Engineering S$4,558
Environmental Engineering S$3,900
Information Engineering & Media S$4,950
Maritime Studies S$3,740
Materials Engineering S$4,500
Mechanical Engineering S$4,500
College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Art, Design & Media S$3,200
Chinese S$3,600
Communication Studies S$3,500
Economics S$4,000
English S$3,748
History S$4,000
Interdisciplinary Double Major S$4,271
Linguistics & Multilingual Studies S$3,500
Philosophy S$3,450
Psychology S$3,668
Public Policy and Global Affairs S$4,123
Sociology S$3,800
College of Science
Biological Sciences S$3,600
Biomedical Sciences & Chinese Medicine S$4,050
Biomedical Sciences and Chinese Medicine S$3,175
Chemistry & Biological Chemistry S$3,700
Environmental Earth Systems Science S$4,023
Mathematical Sciences/Mathematical Sciences and Economics S$4,300
Physics & Applied Physics  S$4,000
National Institute of Education (NIE)
Arts (With Education) S$4,129
Science (With Education) S$4,300
Sport Science and Management S$3,350
Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine
Medicine S$5,600

Source: 2022 GES, MOE

🎉SingSaver's March Madness Grand Lucky Draw🎉: Get 2x chances to win a pair of Round Trip Business Class plane tickets to Tokyo (worth S$13,144) when you successfully open a moomoo account. Promo runs from 6 Mar 2024, 5pm, to 31 Mar 2024.  T&Cs apply.

MOOMOO_S$130_BLOGARTICLE_800x250

SingSaver Exclusive Promotion: Receive S$80 Cash via PayNow when you open a moomoo universal account and fund a minimum of S$100. Plus, get an additional S$50 Cash (S$130 total) when you fund S$2000. Valid till 31 March 2024. T&Cs apply.

Also, get up to S$880 worth in rewards and up to 6.8% p.a. returns when you complete additional actions with your Moomoo account. Valid till 1 April 2024. T&Cs apply.

Back to top

SMU Graduates

Degree Median Gross Monthly Salary
School of Accountancy (4-yr programme)
Accountancy   S$3,825
Cum Laude and above S$4,025
School of Business (4-yr programme)
Business Management S$4,400
Cum Laude and above S$4,800
School of Economics (4-yr programme)
Economics  S$4,500
Cum Laude and above S$4,500
School of Computing and Information Systems (4-yr programme)
Information Systems S$5,400
Cum Laude and above S$5,638
School of Social Sciences (4-yr programme)
Social Sciences S$4,000
Cum Laude and above S$4,316
School of Law (4-yr programme)
Law S$6,375
Cum Laude and above S$6,400

Source: 2022 GES, MOE

Back to top

SIT Graduates

Degree Median Gross Monthly Salary
DigiPen Institute of Technology
BA, Game Design S$3,300
BFA, Digital Arts & Animation S$3,200
BSc, Computer Science & Game Design S$4,000
BSc, Computer Science in Real-Time
Interactive Simulation
S$4,600
BEng, Systems Engineering (ElectroMechanical Systems) S$4,370
Massey University
BA, Food Technology (Hons) S$3,300
The Glasgow School of Art
BA, Communication Design (Hons) S$3,000
BA, Interior Design (Hons) S$3,000
Newcastle University
BEng, Chemical Engineering (Hons) S$3,700
BEng, Electrical Power Engineering (Hons) S$3,600
BEng, Marine Engineering (Hons) S$3,750
BEng, Mechanical Design & Manufacturing
Engineering (Hons)
S$3,650
BEng, Naval Architecture (Hons) S$3,400
BEng, Offshore Engineering (Hons) S$3,550
Technische Universität München
BSc, Chemical Engineering S$3,557
BSc, Electrical Engineering & IT S$3,700
The Culinary Institute of America
Bachelor of Business Administration in Food Business
Management
S$2,700
Trinity College Dublin
BSc, Physiotherapy S$3,525
University of Glasgow
BEng with Hons in Civil Engineering S$3,675
BSc with Hons in Nursing  S$3,700
University of Liverpool
BA, Criminology and Security (Hons) S$3,850
Singapore Institute of Technology
Bachelor of Accountancy (Hons) S$3,400
BEng, Information & Communications Technology (Information Security) (Hons) S$4,950
BEng, Information & Communications Technology (Software Engineering) (Hons) S$5,000
BEng, Aircraft Systems Engineering (Hons) S$3,300
BEng, Pharmaceutical Engineering (Hons) S$3,600
BEng, Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering (Building Services) (Hons) S$3,680
BEng, Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering (Land) (Hons) S$3,700
BEng, Telematics (Intelligent Transportation Systems Engineering) (Hons) S$4,000
Bachelor of Hospitality Business (Hons) S$3,000
Bachelor of Science (Diagnostic Radiography) S$3,700
Bachelor of Science (Occupational Therapy) S$3,500
Bachelor of Science (Radiation Therapy) S$3,500

Source: 2022 GES, MOE

Back to top

SUTD Graduates

Degree Median Gross Monthly Salary
BEng, Computer Science and Design S$5,190
BEng, Engineering Product Development S$4,200
BEng, Engineering Systems and Design S$4,500
BSc, Architecture and Sustainable
Design
S$4,100

Source: 2022 GES, MOE

Back to top

SUSS Graduates

Degree Median Gross Monthly Salary
S R Nathan School of Human Development
Bachelor of Early Childhood Education S$3,200
Bachelor of Human Resource Management S$3,588
Bachelor of Social Work S$3,640
School of Business
Bachelor of Accountancy S$3,600
Bachelor of Science, Business Analytics S$4,660
Bachelor of Science, Finance S$4,000
Bachelor of Science, Marketing S$3,600
Bachelor of Science, Supply Chain Management S$3,500

Source: 2022 GES, MOE

Back to top

Read these next:
When to Use a Personal Loan for Education
Best Credit Cards For Online Subscriptions
How To Save Money On Dental Costs In Singapore
Amid COVID-19, Scoot And Singapore Airlines Offer Cash Refunds, Bonus Travel Credits



 

Marie is a self-diagnosed cheapskate, who once went dumpster diving and returned with a luggage of free loot. Nothing excites her more than stumbling upon vintage gems with wholesale price tags at the flea market.

FINANCIAL TIP:

Use a personal loan to consolidate your outstanding debt at a lower interest rate!

Sign up for our newsletter for financial tips, tricks and exclusive information that can be personalised to your preferences!