{
  "id": 2436368,
  "title": "Want to know if you are paid enough? Start with these salary guides",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/21/want-to-know-if-you-are-paid-enough-start-with-these-salary-guides",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-21T21:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Straits Times Business",
    "slug": "straits-times-business",
    "url": "https://www.straitstimes.com/business/invest/want-to-know-if-you-are-paid-enough-start-with-these-salary-guides"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Singapore Salary Guide by The Straits Times provides a comprehensive, nationwide perspective on wages across over 500 occupations using data from the Ministry of Manpower. Readers can input their age, job title, and gross monthly income to gauge their earnings relative to peers at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile levels. The guide highlights the highest-paying jobs, which include diagnostic radiologists, derivatives dealers, and flying instructors, each earning a median monthly salary of $20,000. Other top-paid positions are chief information, information security, and technology officers at $17,812, risk management managers at $17,077, and commercial airline pilots at $17,053.\n\nFor younger professionals aged 25 to 29, artificial intelligence and machine learning engineers lead with a median monthly salary of $8,970. Mid-career workers in their 30s and 40s can expect the highest earnings in roles such as financial derivatives dealers, economists, and infocomm technology sales and services professionals. Among older workers in their 50s, flying instructors, in-house legal counsel, and fund/portfolio managers are among the top earners.\n\nGender pay gaps exist in 251 of the 365 occupations covered by the guide, with men earning more in the majority of cases. The largest disparities are found in fund/portfolio management, trade brokerage, and sales roles. Conversely, women earn more in occupations like sports center management, business valuation, and industrial safety engineering.\n\nWhile the Singapore Salary Guide offers a national view, other recruitment firms provide more specialized insights. Adecco offers salary benchmarks across 10 industries, Michael Page provides figures including bonuses for 13 functions, Robert Walters covers six functions with both basic salaries and hiring insights, and Hays includes 15 industries and hundreds of roles across several Asian countries. These guides typically present annual salary packages, with some roles broken down by seniority levels.",
  "summary": "ST’s salary guide draws on official data, while recruitment firms offer their own benchmarks based on proprietary data.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}