Poly and ITE graduates real wages dropping over past 5 years. Perhaps the most obvious issue pertaining to ITE and polytechnic graduates that we understand may be missing from the Aspire report – may be that their starting pay may not increased in real terms for many years already. Unless this issue is acknowledged and we do not arguably continue to be in a state of denial by not mentioning this at all – how can we address the question of how to improve our vocational education system? In this connection, the data from the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) Graduate Starting Salary Table(s) in 2012 is rather pathetic. The median monthly gross starting salary of ITE fresh graduates in full-time employment increased from $1,217 to $1,350, from 2007 to 2012. This is an increase of about 11 per cent over the 5 years, or about 2.1 per cent per annum. Since inflation was about 21 per cent from 2007 (CPI 93.2) to 2012 (CPI 113.1) – does it mean that in real terms – salaries dropped by about 10 per cent over the 5 years or about minus 1.8 per cent per annum? As to polytechnic graduates’ starting pay – the data from the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) Graduate Starting Salary Table(s) is also pathetic. The median monthly gross starting salary of polytechnic fresh graduates in full-time employment increased from $1,800 to $2,000, from 2008 to 2013. This is an increase of about 11 per cent over the 5 years, or about 2.1 per cent per annum. Since inflation was about 16.5 per cent from 2008 (CPI 99.4) to 2013 (CPI 115.8) – does it mean that in real terms – salaries may have dropped by about 5.5 per cent over the 5 years or about minus 1 per cent per annum?
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 11:55:22 +0000