(March 7): Salaries for software engineers in Singapore rose by an average of 7.6% last year, with pay increases falling short of rent hikes after technology companies worldwide slashed jobs.

Even as the increase slowed from a 22% surge a year earlier, the city state’s tech salaries stand out among countries in South and Southeast Asia, according to a report published on Tuesday (March 7) by hiring service NodeFlair and start-up accelerator Iterative. Software engineers in Singapore command thousands of dollars more each month than their counterparts in nearby countries.

Singapore has attracted several fast-growing start-ups while also hosting the Asia-Pacific hubs of global companies like Meta Platforms Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google. Yet the wealthy island nation hasn’t been immune to the tech industry’s slowdown, with companies including Sea Ltd slashing thousands of positions to curb costs.

Factors driving up Singapore’s salaries include the rising cost of living, with rents soaring last year and forecast to jump a further 10% to 15% this year on limited supply. Tightening conditions for worker visas have also made it harder to bring in less senior workers.

ByteDance Ltd, GovTech Singapore and Sea’s e-commerce arm Shopee were the most searched-for employers in the country’s tech sector, beating big US companies such as Apple Inc, Visa Inc and Meta, according to the report.

Lead software engineers in Singapore commanded a median salary of US$6,666 (RM29,827) last year, compared with US$1,309 drawn by their peers in Indonesia and US$1,357 in India, according to the researchers, who verified payslips and offer letters as part of procuring their figures.