Few days ago, my friend sent me 2 files, salary statistic across all sectors in Singapore and Malaysia. Here it is.
Singapore salary statistic
Malaysia salary statistic
If you glance through, you will find that generally Singapore salary is higher than Malaysia's, even if we compare dollar to dollar. The biggest different would be the Finance and IT sector.
Is it true?
Initially I have doubt about the data, because I had been told over and over again, that we should not request dollar to dollar salary if I plan to have a job in Singapore, it should be around 0.75 or 0.8. But according to the statistic, it is not true.
If the statistic is true, then it bring up some conclusions.
1. I am under-paid at Singapore?
2. I am over-paid at Malaysia?
I think both is true. Firstly, Engineering sector is not the darling choice for high talented students, most of the high flyer will choose Finance or Business in Singapore. Secondly, Singapore have huge pool of talents from India and China for Engineering. From demand and supply perspective, the salary would definitely lower.
Unlike in Malaysia, which failed to attract huge number of overseas student, have less supply of talented engineer. For giant MNC like Intel, it will definitely need to pay higher to attract the correct person.
Lastly, after asking around, I found that engineers in Penang were have higher pay compare to other state. Some of the engineer in Selangor would need to work 15 years, just to have same salary as 2 years engineer in Penang giant MNC.
Penang Engineer, stop complaining and work hard. Cheers, you are already the better one.
