Good question. No straight answer because each of these entities is huge. We need to drill deeper into each of these sectors to give a good answer. For meaningful analysis, let's split these 3 sectors into 6. 1) Finance government agencies 2a) Bank front office 2b) Bank middle office 2c) Bank back office 3a) Big 4 audit 3b) Big 4 advisory

Finance government agencies all pay well, most of all MAS. Being of the government, these jobs are also the safest. Good or bad times, these are essential services that must continue and SG government is unlikely to collapse anytime soon.

Bank front office will be badly affected by covid. If the role is commission-based, even more so, so consumer banking jobs will be harder hit than corporate banking. When times are bad, you dont need as many salespeople as good times, so job cuts here are possible. Wage cuts for commission-based roles are guaranteed.

Bank middle office wont be hit as badly. Most of their work involves product design (e.g. structuring loans), compliance/AML and risk management. Whether times are good or bad, still needed.

Bank back office wont be hit badly at first, but can be very badly hit and even continue to be affected after covid is over, especially for operations roles. Covid driving digital transformation is bad news for ops ppl in banks. But since such transformation takes time, the effect wont be felt so quickly. IT roles in banks might be less affected, but still undesirable anyway because banks' IT systems tend to be very dated. Also alot of companies trying to cut costs now and cost-cutting measures in banks always target the back office first so this is not a place you want to be.

Big 4 audit will always be required, good or bad times. By law, companies must be audited so this sector will be one of the least affected. But low pay and bad worklife balance, especially during peak seasons. High job stability.

Big 4 advisory refers to advisory services (tax is usually the biggest). This sector will be very badly hit because companies don't need such services (unlike audit) and even if they want, they cannot afford during this time.

Overall ranking in terms of vulnerability to covid (from worst to least badly affected):
1. Big 4 advisory
2. Bank back office
3. Bank front office
4. Bank middle office
5. Big 4 advisory
6. Finance government agencies

My answer to your question is MAS/MTI/EDB/MOF will most likely offer the best salary/worklife combi. In normal times, it will definitely be Big 4 advisory/Bank front office but these jobs are now high-risk.