Understanding Salary Trends: 2026 Expectations

Understanding Salary Trends: 2026 Expectations

Singapore has full employment; unemployment rate at just 2 percent (latest)

Info source for Singapore unemployment rate: tradingeconomics.com. I remember very clearly that my economics professor said to all of us. Any country with a 4 percent unemployment is at full employment. Meaning generally everyone wanting a job will get a job even if it does not necessarily mean everyone is employed and everyone is happy with their job.

If a country has full employment, it could mean that it’s harder to find employees, thus maybe the salary offer could be higher? Maybe the offer and the increment can be a different thing. Offering a higher salary does not mean increment has to be very high too because increment is always based on the next financial years’ expectation of the person’s contribution. This seems to be the case. Do read on:

Article in straitstimes.com.sg Signs of moderation in salary increments and bonuses are showing as employers exercise greater caution amid economic uncertainty, a ManpowerGroup survey of 504 Singapore employers found.

Fewer employers plan to award raises of 5 per cent or more, with the percentage of companies intending to do so down at 23 per cent for 2025/2026, from 26 per cent a year earlier, the survey showed.

The percentage of employers planning salary increments of 7 per cent or more fell to 5 per cent, from 6 per cent for 2024/2025. More are planning to give out increments of under 3 per cent, with the percentage of such firms up at 21 per cent, from 18 per cent previously. Article in straitstimes.com.sg

There are still 7 percent increments but more are planning for under 3 percent

21 percent out of 504 firms surveyed said they may offer under 3 percent. Meanwhile 23 percent says they will offer 5 percent or more. 5 percent of the 504 firms says they will provide increments of 7 percent or more! I really do wonder who are these 5 percent of the companies. My guess would be that it’s related to online / internet. It’s not the best of times for many industries because the tariffs have created much uncertainty in the world and the traditional strong trading nations, especially to the USA may face headwinds.

The U.S. is Singapore’s largest trading partner in Southeast Asia, and Singapore is the U.S.’s largest trading partner in Southeast Asia. (info source: trade.gov)

Coming to Malaysia, what are we expecting?

One report says that for Malaysia, the average will be around 4.8 percent. This is the report: hcamag.com

Here’s the typical calculation

Someone with a RM5,000 salary with a 4.8 percent increment will receive extra RM240 per month. When it comes to the property repayment, an extra RM240 per month is equivalent to an ability to pay for an extra RM45,000 in property price. We will not spend the whole amount into the home loan repayment yeah but RM240 is sufficient to afford a property price increase of RM45,000 for a 30-year loan.

When it comes to daily on a monthly basis, this is an extra RM8 per day. If the food prices stay the same or we just strive to reduce the amount we spend on food, I do think we can save more every month too. It’s not a windfall but it’s still much better than having a high unemployment rate or some crisis where finding jobs are so hard due to job scarcity.

It was exactly this situation when I returned from the UK in 1998. There were hardly any vacancies being advertised and getting a job was considered lucky. I was fortunate as I got myself a job within one month of returning and it was a very established Japanese electronics MNC too. Remember to keep learning and improving so that we can take up a higher role and thus a higher pay too.

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