That made Singapore the 17th most expensive place in the world for companies to send expats. This sudden wage inflation for local candidates can be problematic. Every time my bank hires someone with a much higher salary than our current employees, it causes disapproval and shock among the team (both local and foreign). Singapore is very small, so information is often leaked about how much money people make.
For ease of comparison, cash subsidies are assumed to be paid to employees to cover the cost of the benefits provided. Current staff are especially dissatisfied when they are expected to train new well-paid members, some of whom are less qualified than them. However, expats who are high-flying professionals with highly demanded skills should find it relatively easy to get a more than comfortable salary; they are the younger expats with less work experience the ones who are likely to have the hardest time with this, though. For expats moving to Singapore with children, unless they have a high income, public schools will be the only affordable option.
Whichever way it works, expats need to make sure they do a lot of research and only accept an offer that supports the type of lifestyle they want to lead in Singapore. Once upon a time, Singapore was considered an expat paradise with the promise of big paychecks and comfortable benefits, but it seems that times are changing. On the other hand, Taiwan opposed the trend seen in many places in Asia, entering for the first time among the ten most expensive places in the world to employ expatriates, as the total cost of expat packages increased in the market. With more than a quarter of its workforce coming from abroad, Singapore is largely an expat city, so it may come as no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with Singapore's first population decline in a decade.
Singapore's expat communities tend to live in neighborhoods, such as Tiong Bahru, nicknamed Singapore's Brooklyn because of its artistic side, and Holland Village, a well-connected district that houses houses, which may seem rare in a country where 80% of people live in high-rise government apartments. In a nation crammed with skyscrapers where temperatures rarely drop below 77°F, it's easy to find your place in the crowd, whether you're a single expat or moving to Singapore as a family. Property comes at a special price in Singapore, where land is scarce, so although the cost of renting varies, it's generally an important outlet for expats. From understanding Singapore's business culture to discovering what expats do for fun, here are some tips to make your experience as an expat in Singapore the best it can be.
However, despite the slight drop, the expat salaries currently offered are more than enough to live comfortably in one of the world's most popular expat destinations. For an English-speaking expatriate living in Singapore, there are many international schools to choose from, including many that follow the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum. Expat life can be refreshing, exciting and enriching: few places capture this formula better than the city-state framed by the jungle of Singapore.
