Employees in Singapore expected to receive 2.6% salary increase in 2019

The latest Salary Trends Survey by ECA International (ECA) has revealed that employees in Singapore can expect to see a real salary increase of 2.6% in 2019.

This was determined after factoring in an inflation of 1.4%, predicted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and deducted from the actual increase of 4%. The increase is a drop from the 2.9% rise seen in 2018. 

Despite this, Lee Quane, regional director - Asia, ECA International, said: "Singapore will continue to see a higher increase than regional neighbours such as Hong Kong and Japan, and is only slightly below the Asia Pacific average of 2.7%."

Asia Pacific (APAC) countries take the lead

Singapore ranks #11 out of 20 APAC countries and #12 in the top 20 countries globally for forecasted real salary increases, while APAC countries dominated the overall ranking with 14 spots.

According to Quane, the average real salary increase in APAC is more than double the global average of 1.2%. Low inflation and rising productivity mean that many Asian economies, and therefore local salaries, are growing rapidly.

In line with this, employees in India are set to see the world's highest real wage increase of 5.1%, while Vietnam and Indonesia rank second and third respectively.

The 20 countries with the highest forecasted real salary increases in 2019 are:

#2 Vietnam (#2 in APAC)

#3 Indonesia (#3 in APAC)

#4 China (#4 in APAC)

#5 Thailand (#5 in APAC)

#6 Bangladesh (#6 in APAC)

#7 Cambodia (#7 in APAC)

#8 Sri Lanka (#8 in APAC)

#9 Korea Republic (#9 in APAC)

#9 Malaysia (#9 in APAC)

#9 Ukraine

#12 Morocco

#12 Singapore (#11 in APAC)

#14 Pakistan (#12 in APAC)

#14 Peru

#14 Taiwan (#12 in APAC)

#17 Kazakhstan

#18 Russia

#19 United Arab Emirates

#20 The Philippines

#20 Saudi Arabia

The other top-paying countries in APAC include:

#16 Myanmar

#17 Macau

#18 New Zealand

#19 Japan

#20 Australia

In Malaysia, salary increases will remain at 5% in 2019. However, with inflation expected to rise at a faster rate in 2019, employees will see a lower rate of increase in their real incomes as they did in 2018.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong workers in the private sector will see their salaries increase by 4% in 2019 for the fourth year in a row. However, after inflation, predicted to be 2.1% next year, employees are expected to see a real salary increase of 1.9% in 2019. This keeps Hong Kong near the bottom of the table for real salary increases in the APAC region, ranking 15th out of 20 countries surveyed in the region.

The annual Salary Trends Survey analyses and reports current-year salary increases for local national employees across 69 countries, and the anticipated increases for reviews in the forthcoming year.

Lead image / 123RF

Infographic / Provided