By Juliet Soh
The top three worst savers in Singapore are event managers, public relations practitioners and salespeople, according to a survey by JobsCentral, one of Singapore’s leading job portals.
A total of 2,278 respondents took the survey, which was conducted online from August to September 2011. Respondents consist of employed individuals from all levels of occupation and income groups. The survey has an error margin of 2.05%, at 95% confidence level.
According to the survey, the top three worst savers are in:
1. Events Management (21.2% save more than 20% of monthly income)
2. Public Relations (21.2% save more than 20% of monthly income)
3. Sales (23.3% save more than 20% of monthly income)
On the other spectrum, the top three thriftiest workers are in:
1. Research & Development (56.7% of them save more than 20% of monthly income)
2. Consulting (50% of them save more than 20% of monthly income)
3. Business Development (47.7% of them save more than 20% of monthly income)
“It is interesting to note that the top three worst savers profile workers who require strong social skills and high energy level to perform their tasks,” says Huang Shao-Ning, Deputy CEO of JobsCentral Group.
“The more exuberant personalities of these three groups of workers, and the requirement of their jobs to leave positive impressions on new people they meet every day may also translate to higher expenditure on grooming, commuting and entertainment,” she adds.
2 in 3 in Singapore saves no more than 20% of monthly income
66.3% of Singapore workers indicated that they save no more than 20% of their monthly income, according to the survey
The survey also found out that the savings trend is consistent across two vastly different income levels. When comparing those who made less than $1,000 a month and those who made above $10,000 a month, the majority of both groups of respondents indicated that they save 10%-20% of their monthly income.
Singapore workers are reserved when discussing their salary with colleagues
Workers in Singapore are generally conservative when it comes to sharing salary information with their co-workers. Majority of the respondents (75.7%) indicated that salary-related information should be kept private, and prefer not to share it with their peers in the company.
Respondents with higher gross monthly salary are more tight-lipped about their salary compared to those who earn less. The group who keep their salary in the strictest confidence are those who earn between $6000-$7000. 88.2% of them said they would not let on how much they earn to their colleagues.
Bulk of bonus saved or spent on recreation
44.1% of respondents said they save most of their bonus, and at least one in three respondents (33.7%) indicated that they spend the bulk of their bonus on recreation, such as going on holidays (19.4%) and shopping (14.3%). 12.7% gives most of their bonus to their parents, 9% would put it into investments, and 0.5% said they will donate to charity.
Discover more findings from the survey here .
JobsCentral Group, a CareerBuilder company, is the owner of JobsCentral.com.sg, one of Singapore's largest job and learning portals. Get a free career personality test and more career- and education-related articles at JobsCentral and JobsCentral Community.
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