Digital, creative and marketing jobs pay less in Singapore, but why?

Digital, creative and marketing spaces have seen an influx of jobs in Singapore recently. However, salaries have been going down. Why is this the case?

While Singapore has been ramping up its investments in the digital, marketing and creative sectors, ensuing in rapid job creations and a shortage of talent, a report released by font talent, a digital, marketing and creative sector recruitment agency, revealed that median salaries for the respective areas are declining.  but median salaries have declined since the beginning of the year. Its ongoing salary survey compares wages, benefits and retention rates between sex, job function and country.

The Asia director of font, Karin Clarke explained that many of these new jobs created across the digital, creative and marketing sectors are entry-level positions. “Businesses and agencies, are taking on more work, running more social media and website campaigns as well as traditional above-the-line marketing campaigns. They need fewer people to oversee projects, and more people to do the work.”

While marketing, as suggested by Karin, is traditionally a female-dominated industry, there has been a sudden shift towards male dominance. This could be due to more roles requiring IT or digital experts, roles which have been leaning towards hiring males. Data from the survey also showed that within the marketing managers title, male median salary is S$82,500 (US$65,700) while females only earn about S$60,000 (US$47,780).

Men are more loyal? 

Men all around the world in these industries are clinking glasses right now, in celebration of that fact that they are more likely to stay in their jobs than women. Contrary to popular belief, men are more loyal than their female counterparts. The study showed that men were sticking around their jobs longer than women do, revealing a good 55 percent of them being in the same job for six years or more. This is as opposed to only 45 percent of women lasting the same duration. Anna Clark-Hall, Singapore country manager for font, suggested that this could give rise to men attaining a higher position in the company. “It’s when you’ve been in a company for five years or more that you really start to command those big salaries,” she says.

While women now might take offense at font’s new survey, Anna added that this could be due to women with family commitments favoring a more rounded work-life balance, which reduces their chances of achieving pay parity. That being said, Karin sees evidence of women being more likely to leave their job without another job to go to, while men might prefer security. She said, “It’s similar to the way in which many men will only leave relationships if they have another one to go to, where as women are more inclined to leave with nothing to go to.” Her statement did leave me thinking, do we ladies really do that?

Papa, why don’t you have paternity leave?

The latest survey also revealed that paternity leave and flexible working hours remain a low priority in these sectors. While more men in Singapore are offered flexible working conditions than women, only 17 percent of them surveyed have paternity leave benefits weaved into their contracts. Anna said, “It’s surprising, given Singapore’s focus on growing the population, that paternity leave is not more of a priority for employers.”

Featured Image Credit: Empty Pockets / Shutterstock 

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