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by malcontent » Mon, 21 Aug 2023 1:02 pm
I started working part time during high school in the US, this was back in 1989 and I was paid minimum wage of $3.35/hr. I worked 3 hours on weekdays plus 8 hours on Saturdays. It was enough to cover my car payments ($2,000 1980 Chevy Camaro) plus gas (as little as 99¢ per gallon back then), and a little extra left over.
I took the vocational track in high school (like ITE here) which cost nothing. After HS, I continued working and commuted to community college for 2 years (like Polytechnic here) which cost maybe around $1,000 per year, then I went to University for 3 years, which cost a few thousand for tuition, plus another few thousand for room and board.
I was fortunate to meet my wife at University, it definitely changed my outlook on life and caused me to buckle down and get serious about my studies. After we graduated she got a job in a bank and I got a job with a subsidiary of my current employer here in Singapore, starting pay for both of us was just north of US$20,000 annually. About a year later in 1996 we moved to SG. When I was hired here, my initial pay was around S$30,000 - similar to what I had been making in the US (at least before Asian crisis hit and the SGD plummeted), but I was happy to just have a job and an EP. Having to rent a room was annoying, but the only option here on that kind of salary.
It is definitely tough at the entry level here, it’s why you are expected to live with your parents (if they live here). It is far better, if you have the opportunity, to start out entry level in a lower cost highly developed country, get some experience under your belt, and only come to Singapore mid-career, if desired, IMO.
It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows - Epictetus