I am saying the minimum salary for professional graduates should be adjusted higher. Do you really think RM2.5k for a fresh graduate can survive in KL or any other major cities? Not to mention when they have commitments on cars, house or parents, don't forget about PTPTN too.

Unless you are staying with your parents, driving their cars, yes, 2.5k is definitely enough.

I am seeing my friends eating breads, skipping meals, just to make the ends meet. They've studied hard since young to get graduation in Uni so that they can become engineers, which their parents told them, is a good profession that can provide well without suffering.

I can't be sure about in future, they will continue taking 2.5k or taking 10k per month before 30yold, we never know.

I just want to point out that, should professionals graduates suffer from these?

No wonder there is a saying roaming around saying, "Better to take a lorry license after SPM, than taking PTPTN to study engineering."

In comparison, SG has adjusted their basic salary for engineers these recent years more than that of Msia has adjusted. And I don't think inflation rate in SG is way higher than Msia.

I believe it is the same for other professions, just that I am more familiar with engineering, so I am giving examples for engineers.

TLDR: Graduate Engineer should get around 3.2k to 3.5k, else the fantasy of "get a degree in professionals, you can suffer less in future" is not really that fantastic huh?

I was referring to these chats, focusing on graduates, not 40yold Senior Managers with 20k salary.

This post has been edited by icebryanchan: Apr 21 2019, 01:50 PM

There are tons of graduates getting 3.5k - 6k. Are you looking in the right direction? I personally knew alot of friends started work with 4k. A recent fresh graduate come in to my co and his salary is 4.5k.

But....

Are you deserving that price? You said SG adjusted that but you only looking at one aspect. Alot of SG graduates are still earning 1.8k - 3k and only the best are earning higher. Same goes to MY, you dont expect a graduate with 2.8 earned 4k just because they are graduate do you?

I have a friend graduated with 3.9 CGPA, got his first engineering job @ RM2.2k in a major city, and it was a MNC. But I don't see any point to use one single sample to judge for all.

Of course it is possible to get 4k to 6k upon graduate, but how many % is that? Also it really depends on the industry.

A manufacturing engineer can get as low as 2.2k with First Class Honor Degree, while an Oil and Gas engineer can get up to 6k with First Class Honor Degree.

But are there more Oil and Gas engineers in Msia when compared to manufacturing engineers?

I have a lot of friends, graduated with different range of CGPA, going into different field of engineerings, Electrical, Manufacturing, Process, System, SoC, Safety, Civil, Software, Network, Chemical engineering.

The fresh graduate engineers salary can range from 2.2k to 5k, but mostly they are just around 3k, despite stationed in a major city.

I am not sure about your industry, maybe you are in a good industry, be it oil and gas or finance, so you can see fresh grad getting 4.5k is super normal. But that doesn't happen in most of the professional industry in Malaysia. Not engineering, not accounting, not QAQC, not HR/business, not logistics/procurement. 2.0k to 3.3k are SUPER normal for the field I have mentioned just now.

"Tons of graduates"

That's BS dude. Yes, there are people who can earn 4k or even 6k from the get go. But these are rare occurrences. 99% of the population is going to make less than RM3.5k starting basic. Prestigious management programs, which are far and few between, or management consulting roles, are the bulk of the ones that pay > RM3.5k from the get go. And the people who get these roles don't just need good grades from foreign universities, they need to be able to speak well and know the right people.

Lowyat paints a very unrealistic picture. If you're earning RM4k at 26, you're already easily earning better than 70% of people your age.

This post has been edited by contestchris: Apr 21 2019, 03:47 PM

This is the market rate now.....I don't know why your engineer friend is settling for 2.2k....

because that was the average rate in East Malaysia 3 years back, even in Capital like Kuching and Kota Kinabalu. Sad but true.

Not sure about the rate now though, but I believe even 3 years back in KL or Penang or JB, it shouldn't as low as that.

Well, I said that was an extreme case.

Regardless, generally in west msia, graduate engineers now are still getting 2.5k to 3.2k. Some big MNC might give 3.2k to 3.5k but it is still not common yet. I think every company should follow that rate, even those self-proclaimed "small company"

This post has been edited by icebryanchan: Apr 21 2019, 07:03 PM

I'm not sure about Sabah & Sarawak, I'm referring to KL as I was based in KL.

Damn...you keep moving the goalpost that further discussion just not worth it.


Sabah n srwk has lower salary even though working the same things in kl (with exception OnG n 1 or 2 industries).

Agreed with you

Hi guys, I am a fresh graduate in accounting and finance. Today I just got an offer for Accounting Assistant position but the starting salary is RM2.4k only. Isn't the standard market range is 2.5-3k? Btw, it is a medium sized logistics company.

If you have good cgpa I think you can get at least 2.8k at bigger mnc or banks, maybe try those out? Anyway I wouldn't complain as this is your first job.

What's your CGPA if you don't mind us asking?

RM2.4k is definitely on the lower end, and I would recommend holding out for something at the RM2.8k to RM3.0k range. Starting basic is very important...

My cpga havent out yet. I just show the employer my academic transcript. I would say my average marks will be around 65+-. However, there is a meal allowance and parking allowance which I calculated total around rm300. Adding it to the 2.4k would be 2.7k. I personally felt the basic is low as well..

Hi do you have experience working in SG?

I was looking around the net to find the financial breakdown (less income tax, etc etc) for Malaysian working in SG, but still can't find a reliable ones.

Was thinking whether it is worth a shot to join a firm that offers 5K SGD vs 8K MYR.

Working in Malaysia, I can roughly calculate what is my net income, but working in SG is a bit hard as i don't know how much, in average, does decent renting, decent food and life usually costs with all those deductions. Plus I was wondering whether is it worth to forego EPF since working in SGD does not give you any pension benefits.

Rent of a single bedroom will cost you around 700sgd to 900sgd (include utilities)

Food wise is cheap....spend between sgd 3 to 7 per meal at hawker center....restaurants are exp.

Transportation is cheap .get the ezlink card and top up 100sgd...should be able to.last a montha

just to add on to above,
tax in sg is relatively cheap

SGD1500 per month is the average lifestyle there..

Could be higher if you have no will power haha..

This post has been edited by Financier: Apr 23 2019, 11:30 AM

I wonder how did this SGD1500 is termed as average. Mind elaborating how did you arrive at this figure?

700 rent
150 transport
50 phone bill
600 food

Total 1500

How much you spent?

This post has been edited by Financier: Apr 23 2019, 01:24 PM

Hi. I am new here.
Compare with MYR3100(not net salary) and SGD2400, which one is better for fresh graduate?
I'm graduated with Bac of Computer science.