Singapore: IT Salary Benchmark 2009
ZDNet Asia conducted an online survey between October 2008 and May 2009, to gain insights into salary trends and IT workforce across Asia.
| Respondent Profile by Job Function | |
| IT Management | 622 |
| Project Management | 1,109 |
| Systems Development | 909 |
| Communications | 232 |
| Support | 304 |
| Administration | 401 |
| Other IT Professionals | 187 |
| TOTAL (including part-time/contract) | 3,764 |
The study polled a total of 21,627 respondents from various sectors including government, healthcare, IT, services, telecommunications, legal and finance, and across eight Asian economies: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Some 3,526 respondents were from Singapore, holding full-time positions with job functions that cut across several areas such as systems development, project management and support.
In addition, 225 respondents from the country were either contract or independent consultants, while another 13 held part-time positions, working fewer than 28 hours a week.
Respondents who held IT management responsibilities in the legal and finance industry were the highest paid among their peers in Singapore, pulling in an average salary of S$103,598 a year.
Average Annual Salary by Job Function and Industry (S$)
| Job Function | Industry | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IT, Web & Telecom | Goverment, Education & Health | Legal & Finance | Media, Marketing & Sales (non-IT) | Manufacturing, Services & Others (non-IT) | OVERALl | ||
| IT Management | 96,884 | 96,655 | 103,598 | 85,616 | 90,341 | 95,868 | |
| Project Management | 74,315 | 77,474 | 80,144 | 70,803 | 68,228 | 74,552 | |
| Systems Development | 46,931 | 53,813 | 64,383 | 40,893 | 49,163 | 49,563 | |
| Communications | 51,973 | 46,525 | 68,287 | 57,717 | 50,584 | 52,652 | |
| Support | 42,043 | 43,654 | 58,759 | 38,644 | 37,621 | 43,081 | |
| Administration | 51,755 | 60,278 | 67,443 | 42,798 | 46,159 | 53,968 | |
| Other IT Professionals | 76,838 | 53,427 | 68,000 | 56,567 | 69,180 | 73,592 | |
| OVERALL | 64,490 | 69,391 | 77,641 | 60,841 | 62,182 | 66,076 | |
Average Annual Salary by IT Skills and Years of Experience (S$)
| IT Skills | Years of Experience | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 5 years | 5-10 years | More than 10 years | |
| Application Development | 41,717 | 66,960 | 96,847 |
| Desktops/Software | 37,866 | 57,529 | 85,714 |
| Operating Systems | 39,941 | 59,944 | 86,615 |
| Servers/Networking | 38,847 | 61,846 | 88,219 |
| Web Development | 38,999 | 64,104 | - |
| Systems Administration | 39,186 | 61,243 | 84,769 |
| Database Management | 40,821 | 64,352 | 91,487 |
| Enterprise Applications | 44,797 | 72,498 | 102,373 |
| Consulting/Business Services | 50,635 | 77,132 | 105,356 |
| IT Security | 41,598 | - | - |
| Infrastructure Management | - | 66,868 | 95,124 |
| IT Outsourcing | - | - | 97,565 |
Average Annual Salary by Job Function and Years of Experience (S$)
| Job Function | Years of Experience | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 5 years | 5-10 years | More than 10 years | |
| IT Management | 53,861 | 85,212 | 106,314 |
| Project Management | 47,583 | 73,326 | 94,642 |
| Systems Development | 38,397 | 55,530 | 68,743 |
| Communications | 36,390 | 55,109 | 79,061 |
| Support | 36,130 | 42,700 | 58,303 |
| Administration | 40,031 | 55,777 | 69,624 |
| Other IT Professionals | 48,905 | 75,427 | 103,987 |
| OVERALL | 41,422 | 64,925 | 92,308 |
Average Annual Salary of the Top 10 Most Popular IT Skills (S$)
| Rank | % of Respondents | IT Skills | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 49.1 | Application Development | 70,227 |
| 2 | 38.2 | Desktops/ Software | 61,515 |
| 3 | 36.2 | Systems Administration | 64,506 |
| 4 | 35.5 | Operating Systems | 67,155 |
| 5 | 34.2 | Servers/ Networking | 64,800 |
| 6 | 28.1 | Enterprise Applications | 78,829 |
| 7 | 27 | Web Development | 63,395 |
| 8 | 26.4 | Consulting/ Business Services | 83,103 |
| 9 | 25.5 | Infrastructure Management | 76,043 |
| 10 | 24.1 | Database Management | 67,760 |