Full-time employment rates, pay for fresh grads better than pre-Covid levels: survey
STUDENTS who graduated from 4 of Singapore's local universities in 2021 secured full-time jobs and salaries at rates better than pre-Covid-19 levels.
Fewer were also involved in part-time employment or traineeship programmes compared to 2020, according to an annual joint graduate employment survey released on Wednesday (Feb 16).
In 2021, the median gross monthly salary among fresh graduates in full-time jobs was S$3,800, up from S$3,700 in 2020 and S$3,600 in 2019. All 8 course clusters saw an increase in median gross monthly salaries in 2021 from 2019.
Graduates in the business, information and digital technologies, and arts, design and media course clusters recorded the largest increase in median gross monthly salaries for full-time jobs in 2021 from 2020.
The information and digital technologies course cluster also had the highest median gross monthly pay of S$5,000.
Within the universities, graduates who studied computer science at the National University of Singapore (NUS) earned the most, with a monthly median pay of S$6,000. For Nanyang Technological University (NTU), this was the case for graduates of the double degree in business and computing, earning a monthly median of S$6,300.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
At the Singapore Management University (SMU), graduates who studied information systems earned the most among peers - excluding law graduates - with a monthly median pay of S$5,000. As for the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), graduates who studied business analytics earned the highest salary at a monthly median of S$3,800.
As for full-time employment, 84 per cent of graduates were employed in full-time jobs within 6 months of completing their final examinations, up from 69.8 per cent in 2020 and 81.7 per cent in 2019.
The information and digital technologies, built environment, business and engineering course clusters registered the highest percentage in full-time permanent employment.
Meanwhile, graduates in part-time or temporary jobs in 2021 decreased to 8.7 per cent from 22.3 per cent in 2020, with participants in the SGUnited Traineeships Programme down to 3.6 percentage points from 16.9 percentage points in 2020.
In 2020, more graduates were employed in part-time jobs or traineeships amid disruptions from Covid-19. The SGUnited Traineeships Programme was introduced in 2020 to help fresh graduates boost their employability, when hiring demand picks up after the pandemic.
Overall, 94.4 per cent of 2021's fresh graduates were employed in full-time, part-time, temporary or freelance work within 6 months of completing their final examinations, up from 93.6 per cent in the year earlier.
The survey polled 11,200 fresh graduates from full-time programmes at NUS, NTU, SMU and SUSS, around 6 months after the graduates had completed their final examinations.
Results for the Singapore Institute of Technology and Singapore University of Technology and Design will be released at a later date as their surveys are still ongoing.
READ MORE:
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
