COMPASS, the Complementarity Assessment Framework, is the points-based framework the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) applies to Employment Pass applications. According to MOM, an application is scored across four foundational criteria and two bonus criteria, and most applications need 40 points to pass. This article looks at one of them only: C1, the salary criterion.
C1 compares a candidate's fixed monthly salary with the salaries of local Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) in the employer's sector. MOM publishes these benchmarks as tables, set out by sector and by age band, and updates them annually. Points under C1 are awarded in tiers, according to where the salary sits against the published benchmark.
C1 is not the same as the Employment Pass qualifying salary. The qualifying salary is a minimum requirement that applies before COMPASS is scored, while C1 is one part of the COMPASS assessment itself. The two are published separately.
C1 is one of four foundational criteria, alongside C2 Qualifications, C3 Diversity and C4 Support for Local Employment. Two bonus criteria, C5 Skills Bonus and C6 Strategic Economic Priorities Bonus, sit on top of these. The salary criterion is therefore one part of a wider framework, published alongside the others rather than on its own.
Because the benchmarks are tabled by sector and age band and refreshed each year, the figures that apply to one role can differ from those that apply to another, and from one year to the next. MOM's own tables remain the point of reference for the current figures.
C1 compares fixed monthly salary with local PMET salaries in the same sector, set out by age band. It is separate from the qualifying salary, and it is one of six criteria within COMPASS.
COMPASS publishes its criteria and salary tables openly. What published tables cannot show is how a particular role, sector and profile sits against them, and each application is considered by MOM on its own facts and circumstances.
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