Singapore Raises the Salary Benchmarks That Decide Employment Pass Points From 2027

Singapore's Ministry of Manpower has published the salary benchmarks that will decide how many points an Employment Pass candidate scores under COMPASS from 2027. The new table, released in August 2026 and posted on MOM's website on 11 August, applies to new EP applications submitted from 1 January 2027 and to renewals of passes expiring from 1 July 2027. Benchmarks rose in most of the 21 sectors covered. In information and communications technology, a 30-year-old candidate now needs S$9,226 a month to earn ten points, up from S$8,971; in professional services, a 35-year-old needs S$9,556 rather than S$9,320. For anyone planning a move to Singapore on an employer-sponsored pass next year, the salary that clears the bar has gone up.

Background

Since 2023, every Employment Pass application has had to clear two separate hurdles. The first is the EP qualifying salary, a hard minimum that rises with age. The second is COMPASS, the Complementarity Assessment Framework, a points system in which an application needs at least 40 points to pass. Points come from six criteria, and the first of them, C1, scores the candidate's fixed monthly salary against what local professionals, managers, executives and technicians actually earn in the same sector at the same age. Salary at or above the 65th percentile is worth ten points; salary at or above the 90th percentile is worth twenty. Because 20 points is half of what an application needs to pass, C1 is often the single most important line in the calculation. MOM derives the percentiles from its Manpower Research and Statistics Department's annual Comprehensive Labour Force Survey and refreshes the table once a year, each August.

What exactly changed

The August 2026 table replaces the one released in August 2025, which continues to govern new applications filed up to 31 December 2026 and renewals of passes expiring up to 30 June 2027. Increases are spread across sectors and age bands. In information and communications technology, the ten-point threshold at age 30 goes from S$8,971 to S$9,226 and the twenty-point threshold from S$13,959 to S$14,204. Professional services moves further at the top: at age 35 the twenty-point threshold rises from S$16,761 to S$17,618, an increase of more than S$850 a month. In banking and other financial services, a 40-year-old candidate now needs S$16,955 for ten points, up from S$16,594, and S$26,783 for twenty points, up from S$26,329. The table covers 21 sectors, from accommodation and construction through to fund management, media and wholesale trade. Candidates earning at least S$22,500 in fixed monthly salary remain exempt from COMPASS altogether.

Who it affects

Anyone whose Singapore move depends on an Employment Pass filed in 2027 or later is affected, and so is anyone whose current pass expires in the second half of 2027. The people most exposed are candidates whose offered salary sat just above a scoring threshold under the old table, because a benchmark rise of a few hundred dollars can move an application from ten points to zero, or from twenty to ten. That can be the difference between passing and failing COMPASS. Consider a software engineer turning 30 who has an offer at S$9,100 a month: under the table in force today that clears the ten-point mark, but under the 2027 table it falls short. The same logic applies at renewal, where a pass holder whose salary has not kept pace with the benchmark can score lower than their original application did.

What this means in practice

If you are negotiating a Singapore offer now for a 2027 start, check your salary against the August 2026 table for your sector and the age you will be when the application is filed, not the current one. If your pass expires after 1 July 2027, raise the benchmark question with your employer well before the renewal window. The change also stacks with a separate increase already scheduled: the EP qualifying salary, the hard minimum below which COMPASS points are irrelevant, rises from S$5,600 to S$6,000 a month for most sectors and from S$6,200 to S$6,600 in financial services for new applications from 1 January 2027, scaling with age to S$11,500 and S$12,700 respectively at 45 and above. Our Singapore country guide (/country-guides/singapore) covers the wider picture of moving there, including housing, tax and healthcare registration.