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Singapore's gender salary gap still evident

Although local female employees in the creative industry boast a higher level of education than their male counterparts, they are still receiving smaller pay packages.

On average, larger creative companies in Singapore pay male employees 15% more than women. However, the good news is the percentage gap narrows the smaller the company gets; the difference is 10% for medium companies and equal wages in smaller companies.

This is according to data from font’s latest Market Pulse report, which surveyed 4,350 participants across the advertising, marketing, creative and multimedia sectors in Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.

In terms of overall educational levels of local employees, women fared better than men, particularly in the marketing, communication, PR and events sectors where 91% of women hold a degree or higher, compared to 89% of men. Additionally, 28% of women have a masters, compared to 22% of men.

When asked what it would take to switch jobs, local women said a 13% salary increment would motivate them to jump ship - lower than the 17% indicated by men.

“I think this comes down to work-life balance, as women are faced with a lot of pressure beyond the workplace, in caring for their children, parents and in-laws,” Karin Clarke, Asia regional director of font, said. “Rather than a higher salary, many women are looking for roles that will allow them to fulfill both duties.”

However, the report also found average salaries have typically dropped for both genders across the sector over the past 12 months.

The biggest salary drop was 27% for male employees in the creative and creative services sectors, bringing their annual income to S$55,000. On the contrary, females in this sector saw a salary hike of 11% to S$50,000.

Within advertising, media and publishing, annual salaries for women fell 8% to S$55,000, and 13% for men to S$65,000.

In marketing, communications, PR and events, salaries fell 14% to S$60,000 for women and 6% to S$80,000 for men.

In multimedia design and digital, it dropped 14% to S$45,000 for women and 17% to S$50,000 for men.

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