Salary expectations across Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines have risen meaningfully over the past year, driven by tighter competition for skilled professionals, rising living costs, and candidates who are increasingly informed about their market value. For companies hiring remotely into these markets, the gap between last year’s benchmarks and today’s reality is wide enough to derail offers, extend time-to-hire, and quietly erode employer brand if not addressed proactively.
TL;DR
- Salary increment budgets across Southeast Asia averaged 5.3% for 2026, but individual markets vary significantly [aon.com]
- Vietnam leads regional growth expectations at 7.1%, Indonesia follows at 5.9%, and the Philippines at 5.2% [consulting.aswhiteglobal.com]
- Indonesian candidates switching jobs expect salary increases of 20% or more [monroeconsulting.com]
- Vietnam software engineer salary benchmarks have climbed as tech demand outpaces supply
- Employers who anchor offers to 2024 data risk losing candidates at the final stage
About the Author: High Five connects employers with talent across Southeast Asian markets, with direct sourcing coverage across Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. The team’s regional hiring intelligence is drawn from active candidate pipelines and ongoing engagement with professionals across tech, product, and business functions.
Why have salary expectations risen so sharply in Southeast Asia this year?
The short answer is compounding pressure: post-pandemic catch-up, stronger local economies, and candidates who now benchmark themselves against regional and global roles rather than just local ones. The 2025 average salary increment across Southeast Asia landed at roughly 5-7% depending on market, and 2026 projections have continued in the same direction [stemgenicglobal.com]. Vietnam tops the regional list with expected salary growth of 7.1%, followed by Indonesia at 5.9% and the Philippines at 5.2% [consulting.aswhiteglobal.com].
What makes this cycle different from previous years is the transparency effect. Candidates in all three markets now have access to regional salary databases, LinkedIn salary insights, and communities where compensation is openly discussed. A software engineer in Jakarta or Ho Chi Minh City knows what their counterpart in Singapore or a remote role for a US startup earns. That knowledge directly inflates floor expectations.
What is driving salary growth in Indonesia specifically?
Indonesia’s market is being shaped by a structural mismatch between supply and demand, particularly in tech roles. The broader story, though, is about job-switching psychology. According to recent talent market data, 57% of Indonesian candidates expect a salary increase of 20% or more when changing employers [monroeconsulting.com]. That figure is not an outlier – it reflects a market where staying in the same role is financially penalised compared to moving.
This has a direct consequence for hiring. An offer that represents a 10-12% lift over a candidate’s current salary, which would have been competitive two years ago, is now likely to be rejected or used as leverage to negotiate with their existing employer. Companies sourcing Indonesian talent need to anchor their compensation models to what candidates expect to earn upon moving, not what they currently earn.
Additional pressure comes from flexibility demand. Flexible hiring models and remote-first roles are rising in appeal [monroeconsulting.com], which means Indonesian candidates are increasingly comparing local offers against international remote roles with USD or EUR-denominated pay.
How have Vietnam software engineer salary expectations changed in 2026?
Vietnam’s tech talent market has matured faster than most observers expected, and Vietnam software engineer salary benchmarks in 2026 reflect that. Vietnam leads the entire Southeast Asia region for projected salary growth at 7.1% [consulting.aswhiteglobal.com], and the trajectory over the past five years has been consistently upward.
A few dynamics are specific to Vietnam’s engineering market:
- Demand-supply imbalance in mid-level roles. Senior and mid-level engineers with 4-7 years of experience are the most contested segment. Graduates are plentiful; experienced engineers are scarce.
- Export-quality expectations. Vietnamese engineers who have worked with international teams, particularly in product-led companies, benchmark their salaries against regional peers in Singapore and the Philippines, not against the local market average.
- 13th-month pay is an expectation, not a bonus. Candidates in Vietnam factor the 13th month salary into their total annual compensation calculation [aniday.com]. Employers who present a monthly number without accounting for this will find their offers look weaker than intended once candidates do the maths.
Salary increment budgets across the region projected at 5.3% on average [aon.com] undersell Vietnam’s actual trajectory. For engineering roles specifically, the effective rise in candidate expectations over the past 12 months has been higher when you account for role competition and the international comparables candidates are using.
What should employers know about salary shifts in the Philippines?
The Philippines follows a similar trend but with its own character. Projected salary growth sits at 5.2% for 2026 [consulting.aswhiteglobal.com], making it slightly more moderate than Vietnam and Indonesia, though that moderation hides significant variation by sector and function.
Key points for employers hiring in the Philippines:
- BPO and customer-facing roles have a well-established salary floor that is unlikely to compress. Technical and product roles, however, have seen the sharpest expectation increases as companies compete for a smaller pool.
- Remote work has fundamentally changed the reference point. Filipino professionals who have worked with foreign employers know what that compensation looks like. Local offers are now benchmarked against that ceiling, not just against other local employers.
- Benefits expectations have risen alongside base pay. Health coverage, internet allowances, and equipment stipends are increasingly treated as baseline requirements rather than differentiators.
How should companies adjust their hiring approach given these shifts?
Building on the salary trends above, the harder question is what to do about them in practice. Here are the adjustments that matter most:
| Old Assumption | 2026 Reality |
|---|---|
| Candidate will accept a 10% uplift | Job-switchers expect 20%+ in Indonesia [monroeconsulting.com] |
| Last year’s salary data is close enough | Increment rates of 5-7%+ make 12-month-old data materially stale [consulting.aswhiteglobal.com] |
| 13th month is a perk | It is a baseline expectation in Vietnam and Philippines [aniday.com] |
| Local candidates only compare locally | Regional and global remote benchmarks now shape expectations |
| Offer stage is where negotiation starts | Candidates screen employers on compensation earlier in the process |
The practical implication is that employers need to refresh compensation benchmarks at least every six months in these markets, build 13th-month pay into total compensation modelling from the start, and treat the offer stage as a confirmation rather than a negotiation.
High Five’s always-on sourcing model gives employers a continuous read on candidate expectations across these markets, not just a quarterly snapshot. When a candidate declines or counters an offer, that signal feeds back into role calibration for the next search.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average salary increment in Southeast Asia for 2026?
Budgeted salary increments across Southeast Asia are projected at 5.3% on average for 2026, though individual markets like Vietnam sit considerably higher at 7.1% [aon.com][consulting.aswhiteglobal.com].
How much salary increase do Indonesian candidates expect when changing jobs?
57% of Indonesian candidates expect a salary increase of 20% or more when switching employers [monroeconsulting.com].
Is 13th-month pay mandatory in Vietnam and the Philippines?
In the Philippines it is legally required. In Vietnam it is a strong cultural expectation that candidates factor into total compensation comparisons [aniday.com].
Are Vietnam software engineer salaries rising faster than other roles?
Engineering roles in Vietnam are among the most contested in the region. Vietnam leads Southeast Asia for projected salary growth in 2026 at 7.1% [consulting.aswhiteglobal.com], and mid-to-senior engineers sit at the sharpest end of that curve.
How often should companies update their salary benchmarks for Southeast Asia?
Given increment rates of 5-7%+ annually and the additional multiplier of job-switching premiums, refreshing benchmarks every six months is more appropriate than annual reviews.
Why are remote roles affecting local salary expectations in these markets?
Candidates who work with or are visible to international employers use those compensation levels as their reference point, effectively pulling local expectations upward.
What roles are most affected by rising salary expectations in the Philippines?
Technical, product, and software development roles have seen the sharpest increases. BPO-adjacent roles have a more stable floor but are not immune to the broader trend.
About High Five
High Five connects employers with talent across Southeast Asia. Rather than charging success fees, High Five operates on a flat monthly subscription that gives companies access to always-on candidate sourcing across Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. The platform combines AI-assisted sourcing with human expert review to surface qualified candidates, covering roles across engineering, product, data, design, finance, marketing, and operations. For companies navigating shifting salary expectations in these markets, High Five’s continuous sourcing model provides a live read on candidate compensation benchmarks, not just historical data.
If your compensation benchmarks are running behind where candidates actually are in 2026, you are losing offers you should be winning. Visit highfive.global to see how High Five helps companies hire smarter and faster across Southeast Asia.
