Starting pay for Masters in Economics
 

Hi everyone,

I'm an international student studying for a master's degree in economics at a Singapore university.

I started grad school pretty much right after my undergrad so I don't have any work experience.

Right now I have one more year to go before I finish my masters. I should be able to take a few finance classes in addition to my economics classes before I graduate. I think I'll also be done with the CFA level 1 by the time I graduate.

I don't really care what kind of job/industry I get into, teaching, gov't stats board, consulting, finance, etc all are fine.

May I know what kind of starting pay I should expect?

Hi, we just hired a fresh grad with a Msc in Economics from a SG uni. Her base salary is $4.5k excl bonuses. Hope this helps.

This is in the financial services sector btw.

Your starting pay is based on your job, not on your qualifications.
I have seen Msc Econs grads being paid anything from 2k - 4.5k.

Since you are studying a Masters in Econs, you should know that pay is determined by demand and supply in a particular industry, not the paper qualifications you have. The pay an econs teacher gets and the pay an IB analyst gets will obviously be very different.

If you don't even know what field you want to pursue, then you really shouldn't be worrying about starting pay. You should be worried about getting hired in the first place. Nobody wants to hire someone who doesn't care about the industry and is just interested in starting pay.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I just wanted a ball park figure of what to expect, if you would be kind enough to break it down by industry, I'd be ever more grateful! :)

I have an MSc in Econs from the LSE. Started off in 2003 (dire times, so they tell me) at $3000pm as a industry analyst.

Took 5 bloody (literally) yrs to double my salary.

Some classmates went to Investment Banks and got the keys to their Porsche in under 24 months... although they don't have the time to drive it anywhere.

Why didn't you join them in IB?

Short story is that I didn't get in.

There were 4-5 bulge bracket IBs (now 3?), who maybe take on 10-20 slaves a year each; also a whole bunch of boutiques that take in 1-2 a year...

I tried competing, attended full day sessions and workshops... Damn siong btw... but like American Idol, there are only so many that get brought in to the finals... mind you everyone had a Oxbridge, IC, LSE etc etc. degree or 2. 1 EVP at Citi really liked me, but even that's not enough sometimes...

so how? come back to Singapore and land the first job you can.

In hindsight (sour grapes maybe) I have seen that those in IBs have lost their quality of life. Single, tired and rich is not how i would describe myself... but I do think I am happy...

So to all the wank*rs out there who come here and boast abt your million dollar salaries p*ss off :)

To all those benchmarking, the stats don't lie; chances are if you can afford an internet connection, you're doing alright.

Hi , I know how you feel. Even for an oxbridge graduate myself, I did not manage to secure any IB positions. Just so you know that we are competing with other foreign talents as well. The job market in the UK was horrible last year, and I even the Brits and Americans were even applying for front office positions in Singapore and Hong Kong. Actually if you take into account takes and everything else, salaries in Singapore (FO) are about 30% higher than the UK.

UK - 40% Income tax + 20% VAT
SG - ~10-15% Income tax + 7% GST