Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has released the latest C1 salary benchmarks used to score Employment Pass (EP) applications under the Complementarity Assessment Framework, better known as COMPASS. The updated table was published in August 2026 and was reported by global-mobility firms on 12 and 13 August. It will apply to new EP applications filed from 1 January 2027, and to renewals of Employment Passes expiring from 1 July 2027.
The Employment Pass is Singapore's route for professionals, managers, executives and technicians — the pass most commonly used by Indian, Filipino and Sri Lankan software engineers, accountants, engineers and healthcare professionals. This update does not change who is eligible. It changes the salary figure an applicant must hit to earn points on the salary criterion.
How COMPASS scoring works
An Employment Pass candidate has to clear two separate hurdles. Stage 1 is the EP qualifying salary — an absolute minimum monthly figure that must be met before an application can be considered at all. Stage 2 is COMPASS, a points test in which the candidate and the sponsoring employer must together score at least 40 points.
COMPASS points come from four foundational criteria and two bonus criteria. C1 is the salary criterion, and it is the one MOM has just updated. Under C1, a candidate earns 10 points if their fixed monthly salary meets or exceeds the 65th percentile of local professional, manager, executive and technician (PMET) salaries in the employer's sector for their age band, and 20 points if it meets or exceeds the 90th percentile.
- C1 — Salary, benchmarked against local PMET pay in the employer's sector and the candidate's age band (updated now).
- C2 — Qualifications, based on the candidate's educational institution.
- C3 — Diversity, based on how concentrated the employer's workforce already is by nationality.
- C4 — Support for local employment, based on the employer's share of local PMET staff.
- C5 — Skills bonus, where the role sits on Singapore's Shortage Occupation List.
- C6 — Strategic economic priorities bonus, for employers in designated programmes.
If the salary falls below the C1 threshold, the application scores zero on that criterion. It is not an automatic refusal — the candidate can still reach 40 points through the other criteria — but it removes the single largest and most predictable block of points from the calculation.
How much the benchmarks moved
MOM derives the benchmarks each year from its Comprehensive Labour Force Survey, so they track what locals in each sector are actually paid. A comparison of the August 2025 and August 2026 tables published by Erickson Immigration Group shows increases across most industries and age bands. The figures below are illustrative examples from that comparison — the full table is broken down by sector and by single year of age, so an applicant's own benchmark will differ.
| Sector and age | 10 points (previous table) | 10 points (new table) | 20 points (previous table) | 20 points (new table) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Info-communications technology, age 30 | S$8,971 | S$9,226 | S$13,959 | S$14,204 |
| Professional services, age 35 | S$9,320 | S$9,556 | S$16,761 | S$17,618 |
| Banking and other financial services, age 40 | S$16,594 | S$16,955 | S$26,329 | S$26,783 |
Fixed monthly salary needed to score 10 or 20 points under COMPASS criterion C1. Sample rows only, comparing the August 2025 table (currently in force) with the August 2026 table that applies from 1 January 2027. Source: Erickson Immigration Group comparison of the two MOM tables.
The benchmark update covers around twenty sectors, including construction, manufacturing, health and social services, food and beverage services, retail, wholesale trade, land transport and logistics, education, real estate, media and utilities — not only the high-paying professional sectors.
This is separate from the qualifying salary increase
Singapore had already announced, separately, that the Stage 1 EP qualifying salary will rise for new applications from 1 January 2027 — to S$6,000 a month for most sectors and S$6,600 for financial services, with higher figures for older candidates. The two changes are independent of each other. Clearing the qualifying salary does not earn any COMPASS points, and scoring well on COMPASS does not excuse a salary below the qualifying floor. A candidate has to satisfy both.
What this means if you are being recruited for Singapore
The practical effect is that a salary offer which comfortably scored 10 or 20 C1 points this year may score fewer, or none, on an application filed in 2027. That matters most to candidates whose pay sits close to a scoring threshold, and to those already on an Employment Pass whose renewal falls due after 1 July 2027 — a renewal is re-scored, not rubber-stamped. Because the benchmarks are set by sector and by age, two people doing similar work at the same salary can score differently: an older candidate faces a higher benchmark than a younger one, and the same salary goes further in a lower-paying sector than in finance or ICT.
- Ask the employer which MOM sector they are classified under — the benchmark follows the employer's sector, not the job title.
- Ask whether the offered fixed monthly salary has been checked against the new table for your age, not the current one, if the application will be filed in 2027.
- Remember that variable bonuses and allowances generally do not count towards fixed monthly salary for these purposes.
- If you already hold an Employment Pass, check when it expires — passes expiring from 1 July 2027 will be renewed against the new benchmarks.
Nothing changes for Employment Pass applications filed in 2026. From 1 January 2027, the salary needed to score points under COMPASS goes up in most sectors, and EP renewals falling due from 1 July 2027 will be assessed against the higher figures. If you are negotiating a Singapore offer that will be filed next year, it is worth asking the employer to confirm the salary against the new benchmark table for your sector and age before you commit to the move. This is a summary of a published government update, not legal advice, and it does not predict the outcome of any individual application.
