Southeast Asia salaries set for a 2025 bump, with Singapore lagging the region, study says

As the end of the year approaches, the budgeted salary increases for 2025 across Southeast Asia are projected to be higher than in 2024, according to a November report by professional services firm Aon.

On top of that, businesses in the region are likely to maintain or increase their overall workforce numbers, according to the study, which was conducted from July to September 2024. It analyzed data collected from more than 950 companies across Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Notably, the failure to attract and retain top talent has emerged as a key risk for organizations in the Asia-Pacific, moving from the ninth top risk in 2021 to the fourth in 2023, according to Aon's Global Risk Management Survey.

"The salary increase rates are still [anticipated to be] higher [in 2025] than they were [in 2024], while we are anticipating a lower inflationary, lower interest rate environment going forward," Rahul Chawla, Aon's partner and head of talent solutions for Southeast Asia, told CNBC Make It.

"So what that really means is that in spite of a softening inflationary environment, salary increases are still hardening up, which means that there is a talent supply and demand discrepancy which goes beyond inflation," he said.

While inflation remains an element in the expected increases, other factors also come into play, such as the high demand for skilled talent in the region.

For example, Southeast Asia has been "a sandbox environment for a lot of technology companies, i.e. in Singapore, to be setting up shop, so it is attracting capital... and then that creates a demand for talent to serve this growth," Chawla said.

"It's also the speed of technology evolution, right? So things like prompt engineering — probably not something that would have existed as a big skill set two years ago, but now, with ChatGPT ... it's a very new skill that now there is a demand for," said Cheng Wan Hua, director of talent analytics for Southeast Asia at Aon.

Here's how much salary budgets are projected to increase in 2025 across six Southeast Asian countries, according to Aon.

Vietnam

Actual salary increase in 2023: 7.5%

Actual salary increase in 2024: 6.4%

Budgeted salary increase in 2025: 6.7%

Indonesia

Actual salary increase in 2023: 6%

Actual salary increase in 2024: 5.7%

Budgeted salary increase in 2025: 6.3%

Philippines

Actual salary increase in 2023: 5.2%

Actual salary increase in 2024: 5.4%

Budgeted salary increase in 2025: 5.8%

Malaysia

Actual salary increase in 2023: 5%

Actual salary increase in 2024: 4.9%

Budgeted salary increase in 2025: 5%

Thailand

Actual salary increase in 2023: 4.7%

Actual salary increase in 2024: 4.4%

Budgeted salary increase in 2025: 4.7%

Singapore

Actual salary increase in 2023: 4%

Actual salary increase in 2024: 4.2%

Budgeted salary increase in 2025: 4.4%

Salary increases also vary across industries in Southeast Asia, with technology and manufacturing budgeting for the highest bump at 5.8%, according to the report. Retail; consulting, business and community services; and life sciences and medical devices are set for a bump of 5.4%.

On the lower end of the spectrum are the energy (4.9%), financial services (4.8%) and transportation (4.1%) industries, according to the data.

Notably, the survey also found that the budgeted salary increases in Singapore and Thailand are expected to fall behind the broader region in 2025, at 4.4% and 4.7%, respectively.

"Singapore salary increases typically lag other markets in Southeast Asia. Because Singapore is a developed market, inflation tends to be lower compared to other countries which are growing at a faster pace," said Chawla.

In addition, gross domestic product growth rates in the city-state tend to be lower than other countries in the region, thus also contributing to the smaller budgeted salary increase, he added.

Thailand, on the other hand, has had less economic growth than other countries in the region, Chawla said. In addition, as the country's talent pool is "less mobile from a language and deployment perspective," it tends to stay within its own market, he added.