1 in 5 fresh graduates from autonomous universities still seeking employment: MOM

[SINGAPORE] About one in five fresh graduates from Singapore’s autonomous universities are still seeking employment, as at June 2026, said Acting Minister for Manpower Jasmin Lau.

This amounts to 3,600 graduates from the latest cohort of 18,000. Meanwhile, 9,100 graduates had found employment and 5,400 were outside the labour force, mainly for voluntary reasons such as pursuing further education or taking a break before starting work.

Lau issued a written response to a parliamentary question from Bukit Panjang MP Liang Eng Hwa, who asked for information on the availability of entry-level job positions for fresh graduates.

The number of entry-level professional, managerial, executive and technical (PMET) jobs inched up from 32,500 in December 2025 to 32,800 in March 2026.

“Fresh graduate employment has generally remained resilient,” Lau added, noting that nine in 10 university graduates from the 2025 cohort had found employment within 12 months of graduation, comparable to the previous cohort.

Singapore’s six autonomous universities are the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Management University, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore Institute of Technology and Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Lau said her ministry is working with Institutes of Higher Learning and industry partners to expand work-based learning programmes, helping students and fresh graduates gain meaningful work experience in knowledge-intensive sectors with faster artificial intelligence adoption.

These initiatives include the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s TechSkills Accelerator and AI Apprenticeship Programme in the information and communications technology sector, as well as the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Polytechnic Talent for Finance Scheme in the financial services sector.

Meanwhile, MAS also recently launched the Young Talent Programme for AI in Finance, which equips students with applied AI and financial sector skills that are sought after by financial institutions.

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The Graduate Industry Traineeships Programme (GRIT) and GRIT@Gov, which aim to provide industry-relevant skills and experience through traineeships, will also be extended to the 2026 cohort of graduates.

As at end-June 2026, more than 550 trainees from last year’s cohort had been recruited for the 800 available places under the GRIT programme, said Lau.

“We have extended both programmes to the 2026 cohort of graduates, and are prepared to make further enhancements, if necessary,” she said.

“We will continue to review our suite of support for fresh graduates to gain meaningful work experience and improve their employability.”