SINGAPORE: Half of the respondents in a university graduate employment poll who were unemployed six months after graduation had received job offers, Minister of State for Education Gan Siow Huang said on Friday (Mar 7).
In this group, two-thirds were going to start work "in due course", while the remaining one-third rejected the offers for various reasons.
She was responding to questions in parliament based on findings from the Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey published in February.
Of 12,500 fresh graduates surveyed in 2024, 87.1 per cent were employed within six months of completing their final exams, dropping from 89.6 per cent in 2023.
Among those who found employment, 79.5 per cent secured a full-time job, a decline from 84.1 per cent the year before.
On Friday, Ms Gan said that while the labour market was tight in 2024, there was lower hiring demand and fewer vacancies.
"We also observed some graduates taking longer to secure full-time employment in 2024," she added.
Together, these factors could have contributed to the decrease in full-time employment and increase in unemployment reported in the survey, she said.
But Ms Fan noted that the survey provided only a "snapshot" of employment outcomes at the six-month mark.
Responding to a supplementary question from Member of Parliament Xie Yao Quan (PAP-Jurong), she said employment rates for Singaporeans aged 25 to 29 have remained “broadly stable” over the decade, along with low long-term unemployment rates.
“In 2024, about 95 per cent of this age group were in full-time employment,” she said. "This suggests that our graduates do not have prolonged job search difficulties."
Later, in response to a question on the information and communication technology (ICT) sector specifically, Ms Gan said: "We know that there are some graduates who are still able to get in ICT, who are able to get employed very quickly and still being offered very high salaries.
"But the demand has tapered, and so we are also seeing some graduates who feel that perhaps if they wait a little bit more, they might be able to still find a job with similarly attractive, high salaries."
Education Minister Chan Chun Sing then rose to speak, emphasising the importance of skills above all else.
“It is not about how many graduates we produce a year," he said. "What matters (is) that they have the required skills to get good jobs - not just ... with good starting pay, but with good trajectory.”
He noted that some countries have “poor employment outcomes” despite over 90 per cent of the cohort graduating.
“It's not just about having everybody go to university because we all want to go after the paper chase.”
Mr Chan then highlighted the need for Singapore to take a long-term view of the skill sets required by the job market, looking beyond the next one to two years and focusing on the next five to ten years.
"What are the adjacent skill sets that will allow our people to pivot to new jobs that may be created and may not even be in existence today?"
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In this group, two-thirds were going to start work "in due course", while the remaining one-third rejected the offers for various reasons.
She was responding to questions in parliament based on findings from the Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey published in February.
Of 12,500 fresh graduates surveyed in 2024, 87.1 per cent were employed within six months of completing their final exams, dropping from 89.6 per cent in 2023.
Among those who found employment, 79.5 per cent secured a full-time job, a decline from 84.1 per cent the year before.
On Friday, Ms Gan said that while the labour market was tight in 2024, there was lower hiring demand and fewer vacancies.
"We also observed some graduates taking longer to secure full-time employment in 2024," she added.
Together, these factors could have contributed to the decrease in full-time employment and increase in unemployment reported in the survey, she said.
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But Ms Fan noted that the survey provided only a "snapshot" of employment outcomes at the six-month mark.
Responding to a supplementary question from Member of Parliament Xie Yao Quan (PAP-Jurong), she said employment rates for Singaporeans aged 25 to 29 have remained “broadly stable” over the decade, along with low long-term unemployment rates.
“In 2024, about 95 per cent of this age group were in full-time employment,” she said. "This suggests that our graduates do not have prolonged job search difficulties."
Later, in response to a question on the information and communication technology (ICT) sector specifically, Ms Gan said: "We know that there are some graduates who are still able to get in ICT, who are able to get employed very quickly and still being offered very high salaries.
"But the demand has tapered, and so we are also seeing some graduates who feel that perhaps if they wait a little bit more, they might be able to still find a job with similarly attractive, high salaries."
SKILLS OVER NUMBERS
Education Minister Chan Chun Sing then rose to speak, emphasising the importance of skills above all else.
“It is not about how many graduates we produce a year," he said. "What matters (is) that they have the required skills to get good jobs - not just ... with good starting pay, but with good trajectory.”
He noted that some countries have “poor employment outcomes” despite over 90 per cent of the cohort graduating.
“It's not just about having everybody go to university because we all want to go after the paper chase.”
Mr Chan then highlighted the need for Singapore to take a long-term view of the skill sets required by the job market, looking beyond the next one to two years and focusing on the next five to ten years.
"What are the adjacent skill sets that will allow our people to pivot to new jobs that may be created and may not even be in existence today?"
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