Median monthly salaries for Singapore university graduates in 2016 increased to a new high of $3,360. That figure is up from $3,300 for people who graduated in 2015.
These results come from the Graduate Employment Survey, covering 10,904 new graduates from three institutes of higher learning in Singapore: Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU).
The survey determined that nine in 10 graduates, or 89.7 percent, found employment within six months of graduation. This number represents a similar percentage compared to previous graduating classes.
One downside comes from the number of full-time positions graduates secured. Around 80.2 percent of graduates found full-time work. That’s down from 83.1 percent for the graduating class of 2015.
More good news comes from the salary front. The average gross monthly salary among new graduates in 2016 with permanent, full-time jobs came in at $3,515. This figure was up from $3,468 in 2015.
Graduates from SMU came out ahead thanks to 93.8 percent of them finding employment within six months after final exams. This number was almost 90 percent for NUS and NTU.
SMU graduates also earned the most income. On average, they made a gross monthly salary of $3,722. People from from NUS and NTU brought in $3,541 and $3,424, respectively.
Here’s a breakdown of how each university fared in terms of degrees with the biggest salary increases.
- For National University of Singapore, the top degree was information systems, where graduates earned $4,000, which is up 12.7 percent from 2015. Then computer science follows with $4,000 and an increase of 8.1 percent and finally electrical engineering with $3,500 and a rise of 6.1 percent.
- Nanyang Technological University’s top degree was linguistics with a monthly salary of $3,365 (12.2 percent increase). Next was sociology, where people made $3,500 (12 percent increase). Then there was mathematical sciences with $3,500 (up 8 percent).
- Singapore Management University had business management graduates earning $3,500 (up 6.1 percent). Meanwhile, economics graduates earned $3,700 (up 5.7 percent), followed by information systems management at $3,600 (up 2.9 percent).