Singapore salary

[pH 7]

Hello,

I am about to move from London to Singapore am wondering how the economics work out. I would have been getting a salary of £30,000 were I to stay in London. However the SGD salary I have been offered is 31, 500 which is a third of my london salary. While I expected to take a pay cut, this seems a bit low to me. Also I get no housing allowance, travel allowance or indeed anything of the sort. Would you be able to tell me what, as a single person, living in SG i should expect to spend on average a month? Any info you can provide will be much appreciated

Many thanks

[O dear]

While the cost of living in Singapore is much lower for a single person with no kids, that salary is absurdly low in comparison with your London wage.

Why are you being offered such a low salary? And why are you accepting it?

[Here in Singapore]

Don't even bother thinking about it with an offer like that, you'd only just manage to pay the rent with that.  Don't worry about living!

[too low!]

I agree with the other posts, that's too low - a rip off! out of curiousity - what's your line of work & qualifications?

[facts]

That works out at roughly 2500 per month.  Tax would be low though.  You could probably get an HDB flat (government housing) for under a 1000 per month, or a flat share for even less.  Basically you'd be living at subsistence level and saving nothing, but it is do-able.  Maybe you are living like this anyway in London?  I know new graduates that live on this kind of salary.

[local7]

i'm surprised if expats come here on those terms.  thats about the starting pay of a local fresh uni grad with BEng. you can survive on that, and even save a few hundred a month. just don't get a car.

[This sounds hopeless]

You must be really "fresh" from uni - otherwise I don't see any point with this offer. Even after that is taken into consideration, I don't see any point here to even consider this offer :-)  Your current salary is at totally different level and decent. Weird! You can probably survive with this money as a single person but why to sell yourself this cheap?

[Raw Deal]

This sounds like a very raw deal. Though it may not be low for a singaporean living with his/her parents, with no rent, it's very low if you are out on your own. Can't afford a car for sure! And lodging will likely be either shared or in public housing areas.

[macross]

yikes.  I suppose it's fine if you do this temporarily while you look for a higher salary.  I'm from New York, so a salary like that just won't do.  I agree with a majority of the replies out there.  It's fine as long as you're just paying rent - no dates, no recreation, no life...

[Trident]

Out of curiosity , who is your employer?

[God himself]

I assumed those figures were monthly, S$30k being about the same as a third of 35k sterling.

If so, S$30k per month is very liveable and towards the high end of current salaries -- the days of huge packages are behind us.

The cost of living is far cheaper here, but that still doesn't explain why your salary should be a third less.

One reason for living and working as an expat is to make more than you would at home, nett, and it doesn't sound like you would be.

That said, another reason for moving is  the chance to travel to funky places, gain enormous experience and generally have a total blast.

You can't put a price on that.

[minimum]

2500 per month is a minimum salary an employer can pay you. Unless you are on constructor workers or fdw's status. There are different visa types and minimum salaries for each one.

You might survive.. But not for a long time. It's not that easy to find a roommate as expats usually earn a decent money and locals don't usually share flats, but  live with families until they get married.

[Mr Blighty]

Whilst you wont starve, you wont be able to live the lifestyle of GBP30k, even in London.  Although food, tax and travel are cheaper, accommodation will still cost you absolute minimum of $1.2k/mth.  utilities are more than UK, and dont even think about getting a car, although MRT (tube) is cheap and really efficient.  

Basically, yes you can live (with no beer etc at GBP5/pint!) but I believe your company is taking the proverbial p - and it will only get worse when you arrive.  Working hours here are 42ish per week but the reality is that you will only survive if you put in 12 hour days and are the last to leave the office.

Only come if you want the change and experience, on the above basis.  As a rvery rough guide, to match GBP30k, you should aim for $60 - 90k here.

Hope this helps.
Cheers

[Not to be negative]

But I don't see how you'd make it on that,  we live decently (and modestly) and our monthly rental x 12 is more than double your pay (if you are saying 30,000SGD a year)...

I don't know how you'd save much money in Singapore...it is a nice experience but not worth a financial or quality of living sacrifice.

[DimWit Kid]

Absolute minimum 1.2K/month for rent? 2500 the minimum salary your employer can pay you? Boy, some of you guys are really out of touch with reality.

There are other ways like sharing condos,etc, to live comfortably with less than 900/month in rent. Many people here, locals, as well as expats who live on 30K-40K a year.

And whilst there are not many, there are engineers and programmers on Q2 pass who is paid less than 2500.

Having said that, I'd have to agree that 30K/yr is on the very low side unless you really want to be here for some other reason.