I joined Mindef immediately after my ROD in 1982 – my starting pay was $720 then and it meant the world to me.
I later found out that many of my peers who joined the private sector started at least a hundred dollars lesser than me.
Not many people want to join the civil service then as the pay was considered low and the work monotonous. so the government has to jack up the starting pay to attract people.
Personal experience working in the civil service
Many people also considered work in the civil service lacking a proper career path unless you are a government scholar. I am sure that the same sentiments still exist till today.
Many working mums however prefer to work in the civil service as the job is pretty sterotype and you don’t really need to put in alot of over time compared to the fast-paced private sector.
Seventy percent of our civil servants must have being women and more so if you are a working mum.
Down in Mindef where I worked more than fifteen years ago, male colleagues probably made up less than 25% of the total workforce there and I was surrounded by women colleagues.
I guess the civil service is ideal for the working mums who want to work and yet be able to return home on a regular hour to spend time with their kids.
Private sector vz public sector pay difference
I later found out – to my dismay- that my friends who started off in the private sector a few years later had pay rises of between $200 – $300 in annual increment and their bonuses were also mouth-watering.
Many of them are also able to drive probably due to hefty company’s car allowance incentive built into their pay package.
When they job hopped, it was always for at least a few hundred dollars more in pay difference.
Their pay exceeded mine by leaps and bounds in no time due to the lack of ceiling when it comes to yearly pay raises.
They were rewarded handsomely if they performed well whereas in the civil service you still receive the same increment if you outperformed your colleagues by a mile.
Fortunately, I had a promotion at year four in the civil service and my pay literally doubled to $1800 – my increment also crept up abeit slowly from $50 to $100 a year.
I found that my pay flat-lined at year ten – when I was already in my late 20s and about to start a family.
I was making only $2500 and my take home was about $2000 – considered a border line case to support a family then.
The civil service pay structure also had a limit on the number of annual increments you could have unless you hop on to the next scale – which warrants a promotion in my case.
I was also shocked to realise that most of my fellow colleagues earned less than $2000/month – after working there for more than ten years!
Their yearly increment was also a miserable $35 a year.
I spoke to my deputy director later on who advised me to accept my pay check and the stability of the job nature in the civil service – meaning that promotion is not n the cards yet for me.
As there was no promise of any promotion even though I knew that I was one of the few top performers in my department and more importantly my pay would stay stagnant for an indefinite period which would jeopardise my ability to support a family well after marriage - I decided to resign after working for eleven years with the civil service.
Trust me, it was not an easy decision to make especially if this was your first and only job after ROD for the past 11 years but it was a decision which I have never regretted till today.
My only regret was that I didn’t left the civil service earlier as I was literally rotting away without learning much after the fifth year.
I later joined a German MNC company Bayer for the same pay – $2500 but with better job scope and opportunities to learn new skills.
I was also sent abroad to Austria for a overseas training programme costing close to $10, 000.
It took me close to a year to land this job and I realised that private sector bosses do not take kindly to civil servants’ work experience.
One MNC employer even told me that he would half my work experience as I was a civil servant – noted to be working like a robot with no brain.
I would encourage civil servants reading this article to take note of this discriminatory fact by the private sector and not to stay with the public service too long if you want to progress on in your career later on with the private sector.
As for me, I later traded that MNC job for a commission-based career selling life insurance and made more money there working for four years than the combined 11 years with the civil service.
Ironically, I later returned to work with CDC as a career consultant just seven years ago helping out those who are jobless - a statutory board affiliated with People’s Association and earned the same pay when I left Mindef – $2500!
Nowadays, due to the influx of foreign workers, the private sector is shunned by many of our local graduates as not only is the starting pay low but they also have to work alongside foreign executives with strange work habits.
The local graduate could be the minority local worker in a sea of foreigners working in that company and the SMEs will also likely exploit you by pushing you to work longer hours and during the weekend.
Worse of all, chances are high that you will be taking orders from a foreign manager and many locals find that difficult to stomach.
Over paid teachers?
I must reiterate here that I am not against the civil servants or specifically targetting the teaching profession for a pay reduction.
Our qualified teachers deserve every dollar that they are paid and I want our teachers to be happy working away.
Its just that teachers form the largest group of civil servants employed by the government sector and they remain probably the highest paid public servants next to the military personnel.
Most fresh graduates nowadays ironically prefer to join the civil service as not only is the starting pay much higher but more importantly there is less opportunities for work exploitation compared to those faced by our PMETS working in the private sector.
Chances are if you are a NUS Arts grduate with a good honours degree, you will probably end up in the noble teaching profession.
If you have a arts degree and end up in the private sector, employers may not even want to pay you more than $2000 per month and you probably will perform routine administrative work unless you have other niche work experience.
I also recently heard that fresh graduates with honours degree could earn $3200 as a pre service teacher even before they have passed out from the teacher’s academy.
The education ministry in Singapore also wishes to expand its teaching workforce by ten per cent to 33,000 by 2015.
However, it is a open secret that MOE prefers to hire graduates from the local universities and many overseas-trained graduates keen to join the teaching profession are left out in the cold.
Perhaps, it is the teaching syllabus or the familiarity with the local educational system that gives our local graduates the nod first to join the teaching profession.
It is not difficult to attract fresh-faced graduates to the teaching profession if you throw in the mouth-watering Performance Bonus which could hit a solid six months for top performers and counting in the usual civil service year-end bonus, the pay package could be astronomical.
I have heard of civil servants receiving a total of an average of 6 months’ bonuses (PB + annual bonus) and if you earn $3000/month, the December pay package alone may hit in excess of $20,000!
To be fair to all my readers who are teachers here, teaching is tough work and it is more a calling than a job.
The aspiration to be nurturers needs to be strong here or else most teachers will fall by the wayside – even though the pay is very attractive.
I have known of some teacher friends who developed mild psychotic disorders and have to see the psychatrist for treatment and medication.
Besides teaching, our over-stressed teachers also have to take care of CCA activities during Saturday and the stress cycle moves up several notches if you have an over-bearing prinicipal breathing down your neck.
Based on an article cited on the internet, it was written that according to a Straits Times report, teachers formed the largest group of patients visiting the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for mental health treatment.
The article also mentioned this controversial fact about the teaching profession:-
I cannot help feel that in Singapore the approach is to see teacher welfare as just a case of paying them and they will keep quiet about the working conditions. Bear in mind also the civil service code in Singapore of not criticizing the service in public. The Singapore approach is very impersonal. It is all about numbers. Tests are the norm in Singapore schools because the only measure of student achievement are written tests. They didn’t mention what Singapore’s representative means by performance bonus for good instruction. It usually means how well the students do on high stakes examinations. Singapore also harps on numbers in terms of hours of teachers training. It is numbers and numbers and more numbers. From this love affair with numbers you can see that Singapore’s approach is very administrative and seldom from the teaching point of view. It is therefore no surprise that someone high up in the administration says that the job of administrators is the pinnacle of the service.
The attrition rate for teachers here could be high though a check through the internet did not reveal any official figures.
Over paid military personnel?
A friend of mine recently retired from the air force as a major. His last drawn pay tipped $7000 without counting in all the lucrative bonuses.
He was an engineer by training and worked with the military for well over 20 years.
He told me that he also received a solid $500, 000 gratuity pay out at the end of his contract – not bad if you could endure endless nights of field training and frequent overseas exercise attachment.
For those with lieutenant-colonel or colonel ranking, the pay out would have topped a million dollars.
Some friends with the military have told me that the pay out is because military servicemen on contract are normally let off even if they want to sign on for another contract.
It is more like compensation for an insecure career with the military force plus you also have to endure inconveniences such as frequent overseas training attachment.
My friend was fortunate as now he is working with Defence Science organisation (DSO) abeit on a lesser salary of $5000 plus a month – without even experiencing a day of unemployment after his contract ran out.
Many retired army officers are also working alongside him.
I also saw from the Mindef web site that fresh graduates with honours dgeree are paid close to $4000/month if they join the military service as lieutenant army officers.
They also have a monthly undisclosed sign-up fee making the whole pay package seems juicy and much sweetened.
Before anyone wants to jump in the lucrative band wagon, let me remind all that the military career has alot of sacrifices.
They travel frequently overseas for field exercises and their families seldom see them at home as they also have to perform their night routine duty at their base camp unit.
Non-cmmissioned officers (NCO) are also usually let off without any proper off-contract career advice, subjecting them to undue stress when they hit the street without a job and any clue what to do next.
Many of them ventured into becoming property or insurance agents and some became cab drivers.
Conclusion
Thus, it is apaprent that there is a wide gulf now on the pay scale between the government and private sector.
The huge influx of foreign workers has clearly dampen starting pay for our local PMETs wanting to join the private sector.
Our employers so far have not show any loyalty in trying to pay our local graduates slightly more than foreign ones let alone hiring local graduates on a priority basis.
In fact, most private sector now is staffed mainly with foreign workers and will have to close down if they have to return home one day amass.
The findings below are based on the results of the following 6 industries, including jobs from the law, engineering, IT & Telco, R&D, logistics & supply chain and finance & accounting professions.
Average Fresh Graduates Starting Pay in Singapore for 2011 (Forecast)
| Fresh Grad Jobs | Diploma Graduate Starting Salary | Degree Graduate Starting Salary | Masters Graduate Starting Salary |
| Legal | 1,872 | 2,392 | 2,729 |
| Engineering | 1,830 | 2,607 | 2,886 |
| IT & Telecommunications | 1,835 | 2,536 | 2,828 |
| Research & Development | 1,826 | 2,527 | 2,842 |
| Logistics & Supply Chain | 1,752 | 2,332 | 2,625 |
| Finance & Accounting | 1,738 | 2,400 | 2,748 |
| Average for all jobs | 1,784 | 2,418 | 2,820 |
For holders of professional degrees such as medical, legal or the accounting profession, chances are the pay scale will generally be higher than other disciplines – even if you start off with the civil service.
However, the job scope for the private sector is deemed to be much better in the long run - at least the job nature has more variation and you get to learn much more than staying in the civil service.
On the other hand, a government job holds more stability which is something to think about alot now in this turbulent global economy.
I guess wherever you are, it is important to be happy working away as you spend more than 8 hours daily at the work place – be it if you belong to the private or public sector.
It will be terrible if you work on miserably at your job and dread waking up daily to travel for work.
That is probably the day when you will have to seriously consider quitting from your job.
But do find another job first before you throw in the towel.
Written by: Gilbert Goh
I (& my spouse) was a military regular from 2000-2006. Was among the last few batches on 6 years contract scheme.In the mid decade from 2005-2007, quite a number of specialists was given the golden handshake, ask to leave. Worst still, quite a number of them had given 10 years of their youth to the military. I counted myself fortunate leaving at a young age of 25.
However, just like what it was mentioned, most of the ex regular specialists had difficulty finding a proper job unlike the commissioned officers. Most of them are in full commissioned sales job be it in Insurance, Real Estate or even Network Marketing.
Serving as a technician in the military, I took some technician jobs in the private sector however my experience was not recognized. Did some sales job & burned my cash flow. Ever tried a stint in the Auxiliary Police Force subjected to a basic of $1,100 plus a barrage of exploitation of the labor law from the complex OT system to the never ending bond & re-bond. I left the APF almost charged for AWOL by the Police Force, now still owing the APF for the outstanding bond. Which they failed to recover for years.
I almost returned to regular service, which I held back having found out that family unfriendly culture has gone to bad to worse, having every department taking on 5 times of the workload comparing to my active regular days. As well as the compulsory Body Mass Index criteria. Up till now, almost all of my regular colleagues whom I know of have left less for a handful.
Now happily working as Chauffeur, without thinking much for the future. My wife also left in 2008, now working as a procurement officer in the private sector. We have sold our car & 5 room flat for quite some time out of financial prudence. Now in process of buying a 3 room after the inhumane HDB laws have soften down. To leave a Civil Servant job is like a smartphone having to uninstall apps & install other apps. We need to humble ourselves to start from zero & learn other skills of various trades. Both of us never regretted leaving. I take it as a extended NS with regular pay. We call ourselves as late bloomers.
I left the civil service and am now based in australia working on a casual basis and studying to pursue work in another field as my experience is not appreciated here. Civil service pay really varies from industry and post. Life in Australia is good less career wise but if you are willing to take a step down and study abit, you could still do decently well and own a car and house/apartment. In life, things aren’t always rosy thus we need to adapt and persevere to do well. All the best to those who are going through a mid career change or going through a rough batch.
I think that it is the private sector who is under-paying their employees. 10 years ago, an engineering degree graduate earns about $2.5K to $2.8K in the private sector..but now, the starting salary still remains the same. The starting salary for fresh graduates in the private sector has been stagnant for many years. This is probably attributed to the relentless influx of cheaper FTs competing with Singaporeans for jobs in the private sector. The bonuses in the private sector is also lower compared to the civil services. I think most of the employees in private sector get an average of 3 months bonus every year. Civil servants(degree graduates) get about 5 to 6 months bonus per year. The civil services offers a higher starting salry as compared to the private sector. A fresh graduate (male with 2nd upper honors and above) earns 3.5K to $3.8K in civil services and $4K in the uniform services(SPF, SCDF, Prisons, SAF, CNB. However, civil services mainly consist of women. Most of the division 1 officers in the civil services are women.(greater than 60%). As compared to the private sector, the majority of the employees in the civil services are Singapore citizens.
There is no absolute fairness in pay scale no matter whether you are in private or public sector. The economic market is very volatile nowadays. The only constant is change. The workload can be great in both sectors. The pay can be low in both sectors. It depends on your rank, industry and financial health of your company. If your company is profitable, you can get more bonus when you don’t work really hard. On the other hand, if your company is barely able to keep afloat, even if you work very hard, the bonus is maybe only the AWS.
A lot of factors come into play here such as rapport with bosses or luck. Some people get more pay because they know how to curry favour while the silent majority may be unnoticeable.
I think the debate should be the increasing wage gap between the lowest 10% vs the highest 10% instead of private vs public. We should narrow the wage gap no matter whether private or public sector. We should have a wage shock therapy implemented.
Hi Gilbert
it might help to structure your thoughts abit. This article is all over the place and your main point was obfuscated.
anyway, my view is that both the private sector and the public service pay fairly for the work that you do. It is the responsibility of the individual to upscale and negotiate his / her career.
Hi
I am a career civil servant for more than a decade.
From job stability-wise, anyone can be made redundant (sacked, retrenched, etc)from any job. However there are some civil servants in the permanent estab hence they should be able to retire + sign on post retirement should they choose to. You can measure your progression and salary quite accurately for the next decade. No surprises.
There are others on constant 2-3 year contract renewal basis. This group has less job stability.
My work allows me to interact with the various industry reps and hunchos. Those working in CBD (banks, sales, corporate, etc) has less job stability and there is less loyalty. However the exact nature of the work matters too. For example in current times, local banks trumphs foregin banks. Even in the same bank, investment and RM jobs see less stability. For the latter group, people leave to chase higher salary in rival banks.
However lawyers, doctors, accountants, and a host of other degree jobs enjoy more stability.
In the university sectors, the stability is between tenure and untenured/not yet tenured faculty positions.
To a certain degree, it is true that civil service experience may not be that marketable. For example legal, finance and accounting related experience in civil service is heavily discounted should one transfer to private sector. However since civil service, not-so-profit oriented (e.g. unviversities) and GLCs do form a large sector of the economy, one can comfortably survive in this ecosystem.
To shed some light, there are certain small clusters of civil servants with rather marketable skills. They include economists in MTI and MAS (many successfully transit to banks as economists), workplace and fire safety inspectors (large demand in construction, manufacturing and facilities management though these jobs are seldom at management level).
MPs are overly paid, but for normal rank and file posts, especially teaching, they are not that we’ll compensated considering the poor work life balance. And if u go into civil service without a degree, pay is certainly not high at all.
Here’s my two cents to the discussion.
The public service is the largest employer in Singapore and it offers numerous job openings. It will be a logicial move for a fresh grad to try and secure employment in the civil service as your first job. This will give you a chance to build your working experience and use the time in the civil service to add to your credentials. However do take stock every two years to review your market worth and skills. This can be done by attending job interviews to assess your demand in the private sector. One needs to be nimble, agile and innovative.
I had the unique experience of four interesting and valuable years in the civil service as a contractual employee after a 15 year private sector, corporate career. I value this short stint in the civil service as it gave me an insight to the system and it’s people. It has allowed me to build my credentials as some of my character references are now senior civil servants, and I use their names when i apply for jobs or pitch for consulting work in the region.
While it was a humbling experience to work in the civil service as one must simply learn to ‘ listen more and talk less’. A reason why we have two ears and one mouth and not the other way around : ).
However for young aspiring executives regardless of your discipline, to stay away from the private sector is a missed opportunity. Working for an SME or MNC will give you a broader playing field be it travel, company culture and the flexibility to learn more. The public service has realised this and many stat boards are now gearing up to change and behave like private sector organisations in search of talent and to retain their staff.
I’ve worked in ministries & stat boards for 15 years and in private sector for 8+ years. My experience is mostly applicable to Div 1 and above i.e. degree holders.
In the old days up to the mid-1990s, degree holders usually get less pay in civil service compared to private sector. During the 1980s and early 1990s, even SMEs can pay fresh grads more than civil service! The only areas of civil service at that time where starting pay is good are those uniform services like SAF, SPF, Prison.
Before 2000, many ministries and stat boards also don’t really accept foreign degrees (unless Ivy League or OxBridge). In those days, only foreign IT degrees were accepted more easily. But now, I think the civil service not so anal about foreign degrees.
However since around 2008+, my experience with interviewing and talking to fresh grads is that starting pay is now usually better in civil service compared to private sector. I’m talking about generally. Of course the banks and professions like lawyers and doctors, the private sector can pay higher. But even for honours-degree engineers, more likely than not you will get higher starting pay in a ministry compared to a commercial engineering company — unless you’re first-class honours from a solid Uni and the company is a big MNC or a Google.
So bottomline: For fresh degree holders who are mediocre e.g. 2nd-lower honours or no honours, or from non-prestigious Unis, it’s better to fight for a civil service job for the higher starting salary.
Do note that this is applicable more for young fresh grads below 26 yrs old. Once you’re late 20s and above, if you want to get into civil service you better have damn solid work experience, and having a good (1st or 2nd-upper honours) degree from a good Uni will help.
S’pore’s working environment has degenerated into similarity with China and India, where most fresh grads are better off with starting in civil service jobs. And where only a few in private sector will really make it rich. Most in the private sector will just get by, having average pay and mediocre benefits.
The top or executive management of the civil service are well fed. The top or executive management of the PAP related bodies & government related companies are well fed. The top or executive management of the private sectors are well fed too.
It is always the bottom or non executive level that are poorly paid. Especially from the private sectors. The private sectors are always exploiting the poor cheap labours. Local manpower regulation is a pro-employers policy & there is no minimum wage policy to protect the workers.
Don’t rely on the respective unions or NWC to fight for your rights. They are being controlled by PAP & associates.
You will be paid the minimum wage, you will do most of the work, you will work hard & fast, you must not complain. You will work & work & work till you drop dead.
My friends as teachers often fake they are overwork and underpaid compared to the private sectors. The truth is, they work much lesser and with much better pay. The private sector also undergo more stress than teachers with many going into depressions. Teachers are smart people, no matter how much their pay or actual workload is, they have agree to say the opposite to get better and better pay. With cunning and dishonest teachers such as them, i wonder what is the future for Singapore.
Principals and teachers are very fortunate peoples.
They are holding stable jobs and get to be paid highly.
In fact, principals and teachers are so fortunate to be paid highly to enjoy
1 week of March holiday,
4 weeks of June holiday,
1 week of September holiday,
minimum 6 weeks of Nov – Dec holiday,
1 day of Youth Day holiday,
1 day of Teacher Day holiday,
1 day of Children Day holiday,
1 additional day of National Day holiday on top of 9 August holiday,
more than 1/2 days of Chinese New Year eve holiday,
etc.
These are holidays on top of the 11 public holidays in every year.
wow! Principals and teachers are indeed very fortunate to be paid huge salary and multiple months of bonus to enjoy carefree, relax and lots and lots of super long holidays year in year out.
To Sye & Anon,
A teacher’s workload is very heavy and the stress level is very high especially during term time. I have known a teacher who arrived in school at 6am and went home at 7pm on some days. The P and VP usually works from 7am to 7pm during term time, even on weekends. During school holidays, they sometimes work from 9am to 6pm, attending meetings about the future activities being planned.
I was curious how they could be so energetic the whole day. A teacher told me that whatever she did, she did it for the sake of the students. Even if they didn’t appreciate her efforts, she hoped that they would one day come to their senses.
From my interaction with teachers, I found out that those who could surivive for long are very tough, very determined, very dedicated etc. They see teaching as a vocation. Many also take the books home to mark at night and over the weekends. On top of these, they have CCAs, projects etc. to juggle with. They usually have to rush from one class to another, sometimes even having their lunch after 2pm when school ends. After a quick lunch, they have to conduct remedial lessons followed by CCAs or staff meetings etc.
Thus, their salary is not really high when compared to accountants or engineers. They can only rest during certain off-peak periods during the school holidays. Some of them have to bring students overseas for student exchange during the holidays or go hiking, camping etc. with students.
Only those very experience, very calm, very efficient and very strong-willed teachers can afford to rest at night during term time. Beside setting test/ exam papers and marking papers, they need to invigilate and prepare report books etc. The pace is very fast in school. Some teachers also have to attend night classes to upgrade themselves at NIE etc. Some of the courses are compulsory and they have to complete them before they can go on to the next level in the hierachy.
It is not that I want to speak up for them. I just want to present the facts. I did relief teaching before and know first-hand how difficult the students can be. The students seem to take things for granted wihtout knowing all the hard work of teachers behind the scenes. A teacher also need to be very magnanimous for whatever hurtful remarks the students or parents made about him/ her.
I couldn’t take the stress and quit because my health was affected. However, I respect them for their hard work and peseverance. It can be the most fulfilling job in the world provided you can take the stress in your stride.
Where did you get the ficticious figure that teachers and other civil servants are getting 6 months bonuses across the board?
Perhaps as an ex-civil servant, you should be aware that bonuses increases only with rank and seniority. Only people like principals and colonels get 6 month bonuses. For the rank and file teachers, like specialists and lieutenants, only get 1-2 months bonuses, similar to the peers in the private sector.
Lets not forget that directors in private sectors often get 12 month bonuses, much more than their civil service peers.
I think the minister is overly paid for a civil servant …. if you want to serve the country why you’re getting so much??? Its your honesty and integrity, not because of money even CEo or president of a company can be corrupted.
I’ve worked for 20 years in civil service, and I can say the truth is that SINCE 2002, majority of diploma & degree holders get higher pay than what they can get in private sector.
This is even more so for those senior civil servants including those on superscale salaries. 90% of these jokers, if they get fired from civil service, they won’t be able to get another job in private sector with even same category of salary. Just look at all those ministers who lost their golden rice bowl after GE2011. Most of them have to eat humble pie and come back into semi-govt jobs and GLC postings on lower pay. They can’t even take private sector jobs becoz the pay will probably be only 20% of what they are used to.
Yes, in the old days 15, 20, 30 years ago private sector salaries are higher comparing apple-to-apple, doing similar job scopes. These days is very different. I’m talking about average people, not those President scholar-types on super-fasttrack on their careers.
E.g. Fresh degree holders getting starting salary of $3.5K plus 3 months bonus is the norm. Fresh diploma holders with just above average results getting $2.3K salary plus 3 months bonus is normal.
E.g. Average degree holders in civil service are getting basic $5K salaries after less than 3 years experience, and they’re not even given real managerial responsibilities. With the usual govt bonuses and performance bonuses, you have 25-yr old females in civil service getting annual salaries of $80,000 easily.
E.g. I’m seeing with my own eyes younger civil servants around 28 yrs old buying million-dollar condos and ECs as their 1st home. Not a prob for them if they’re both graduates in civil service with combined annual salaries of around $200,000.
You won’t get this type of pay in private sector unless you are among the cream of the crop and can impress interviewers to get into banks and big Western MNCs. Yes, if you’re high-flyer in big private companies, or businessman with a winning formula, you can get more $$$$$. But how many average people can do this? How many people you know become CEOs, CFOs, Chairman, Managing Directors, Board Directors of *BIG* companies?!? Compared to civil service jobs, in which much higher chance for normal people to secure a golden rice bowl.
This is why in the last 10 years, I am seeing more & more young people who if they cannot get into high-paying banks and MNCs, they will fight to get into civil service. Younger Sinkies are figuring out that this is a safer route to having the “S’pore Dream” of a middle-class lifestyle staying in condo, if you factor in 30-yr housing loans, high medical fees and high expense to give your kids a headstart in life.
It is true for degree holder but not for Diploma holder.
Yes, some of the Diploma holders in civil service get higher starting salary compare to their peer in private sector.
However as time go by, the Diploma holders in civil service will hit ceiling while their peer in private sector will get higher salary by increment, promotion or/and job hop.
Ahh yes. Diploma holders who are able to get into big companies and build career can get higher salaries. However do take note that we are mass importing more & more foreigners with degrees, masters and PhDs.
As a salaried employee, what makes the diploma holder indispensable once he/she hits 40+? Unless he can rise to become at least VP level with strong network of corporate backing (very very unlikely as diploma holder in big MNCs and banks), or he is a money-making machine for the company consistently bringing in millions of dollars every year.
That’s why over the past 10 years you see more & more diploma holders (and also degree holders) who become retrenched after 40 and structurally unemployed. Becoz not everybody can rise to become VP or Director. If you are still an executive or even normal Manager at 40+, companies will be tempted to replace you with younger & cheaper foreigners often with MBAs.
I have many colleagues in civil service who are just O-level or ITE and they are getting $4K to $4.5K basic monthly salary. They are doing mainly admin jobs — typing, emailing, filing, phone calls, scheduling meetings, etc. Most of them are over 50 yrs old. Any responsible secondary school student can do their jobs. They go thru motion 365 days a year and collect good salary and bonuses. On the 15 Dec, they all got almost $15K salary into their bank accounts including 2+ months bonuses.
How many 50+ yr old people with O-levels can close both eyes and continue collecting $4.5K with 2-3 months bonuses in private sector?!?!
Its all about mindset, its not what you earn but what you spend…..if a person 2k/monthly but spend 2.5k/monthly….he’s asking for trouble, money management is important, even PhD holder can be a bankrupt….good luck