Salary Expectations and Salary Realities: An Analysis of University Students in Spain and Singapore

One of the main reasons for attending an institution of higher education is to gain the requisite knowledge and skills to obtain employment. While there has been abundant research on post collegiate employment in the USA, the... [ view full abstract ]

One of the main reasons for attending an institution of higher education is to gain the requisite knowledge and skills to obtain employment. While there has been abundant research on post collegiate employment in the USA, the researchers sought to investigate perceptions and trends in other countries. The researchers chose two disparate countries which have seemingly nothing in common. The two countries differed in size, population, GPD and most importantly, their unemployment rate. The first is Singapore which is a very small country with @ 6 million inhabitants, however it has a low 2% unemployment rate and is ranked 6th in the world in terms of GDP which is estimated to be @ $85,300. Conversely, the second country is Spain which has a population of 48 million but has high unemployment as their rate 23%. Further, Spain’s GPD is ranked 94th at @ $34,800.

The selection process students use to choose where to work is comprised of many factors. While each of these has their own advantages and disadvantages, the question arises as how much each of these is valued by prospective employees. Items such as job security, benefits, advancement, autonomy, responsibility, can mean as much as pay. How students preparing to enter the work force rank these factors can provide insights into what the students’ value and provide employers with assistance in determining what incentives to offer.

However, the level of pay is often paramount? The researchers sought to find if the amount of starting pay varied by the sector where the student sought employment and ascertain if a disparity between what a prospective new employee perceives they will earn versus the amount of money they feel they will actually settle on earning.

The following research hypotheses guided the study.
H1: There is no difference in where students from Singapore and Spain would like to find employment (Private Industry, Public Service, or Starting their own or take over a family business)
H1a: There is no difference where students would like to find employment on the basis of Gender, Personality Type, and Major
H2: There is no difference in the job selection factors favored by students from Singapore and Spain.
H2a: There is no difference in the job selection factors favored by students from Singapore and Spain on the basis of Gender, Personality Type, and Major
H3: There is no difference in the amount of money (in percent) that students from Singapore and Spain hope to earn and the amount they will reasonably accept
H3a: There is no difference in the amount of money (in percent) that students from Singapore and Spain hope to earn and the amount they will reasonably accept on the basis of Gender, Personality Type and Major


A total of 460 usable responses from students from the two countries were obtained. Statistically significant differences emerged and implications will be discussed. The remainder of the paper will focus on answering the research questions with statistical analysis and conclusions for practice.