SINGAPORE: A man took to social media stating that his salary of S$2,100 was insufficient. In an anonymous post to popular confessions page SGWhispers, the man wrote that he graduated a year ago and joined a company. He added that “they offered me this salary stating that it is the job market and is reasonable”.
However, he said he found it rather sad that having a diploma certificate alone was not enough to earn him a salary that could sustain his lifestyle. After Central Provident Fund (CPF) deductions, the man wrote that his take-home pay was S$1,600 monthly. “I find it hard to support my elderly parents and to start a family of my own. $1.6k – food – transport – bills = there is barely any money left and to support elderly parents as it is viewed that we must support our parents,” he wrote. “Of course, I love my parents but with such little amount of money left, how do you start a family? Degree is necessary to ensure a higher pay to live in Singapore,” the man added.
Netizens who commented on his post felt he was earning a low amount. One said: “Upgrade and hunt for better jobs while you continue to work. The worst thing you can do is to stay there for 5 to 10 years if you’re already unhappy now”. Another netizen told him: “Quite sure there is something wrong about your work. You are getting the salary roughly similar to a full time cleaner”.
Earlier this year, another man working in the audit industry for two years took to social media stating that his salary was still lower than that of fresh graduates. In an anonymous post to popular confessions page NUSWhispers, the man asked: “Wondering do fresh grad really earns that much nowadays?”.
He added that he saw a post that mentioned that graduates earn a salary of S$4,000 to S$5,000. “Is the median pay really ~4.5k for fresh grad?” he asked. The man said that when he just started working, his salary was a low S$3,000. “After working in the audit industry for 2 years, my salary is currently still lower than those fresh graduates despite working for long hours. Am I getting low balled or it’s just unfortunate that I’m in the wrong industry”, he asked others in the group.