Two days ago, a Straits Times
Insight article mentioned that there were 756,000 foreign workers in Singapore last year.
Foreign talent accounts for 30.3% of our work force. This means that out of the 2.5 million working adults in Singapore, 3 in 10 are foreigners.
Not all of them are highly paid though.
The article went on to say that 645,000 were in fact low-skilled workers on
work permits. According to the Ministry of Manpower (
link), a foreign worker on work permit earns a basic salary of not more than $1,800 (not including bonus).
The rest - about 110,000 of them - are working in Singapore on
employment passes and
S-passes.
A worker on
S-pass earns a fixed monthly salary of at least $1,800.
As for employment passes or "
EP", there are 3 types: P1 Pass, P2 Pass, and Q Pass. Apparently, the P1 Pass is the most "prestigious", as a foreign talent qualifying for it has to make a fixed monthly salary of more than $7,000. For P2 Pass, the figure is $3,500, and for Q Pass it is $2,500.
So now you know. The bulk of the foreign work force here makes less than $1,800/month (well, not counting bonuses, but I don't think they get a lot of bonuses unless their employers are trying to be funny).
However, the remaining 110,000 foreign talent make upwards of $1,800/month. Those on P1 Pass make much more, at more than $7k a month. What is the breakdown by various passes? I do not know...
http://www.salary.sg/2007/foreign-workers-income/
Foreign Workers' Income
