Fresh grad employment broadly stable; year-to-year fluctuations are cyclical: Gan Siow Huang

EMPLOYMENT rates of fresh graduates from autonomous universities have remained broadly stable over the decade, with some year-to-year fluctuations due to cyclical changes, Minister of State for Education Gan Siow Huang said in Parliament on Friday (Mar 7).

She was addressing questions about the 2024 Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey released last month, which showed that fewer graduates found work six months after graduation, though the median salary went up.

The labour market recovered strongly post-Covid, in 2021 and 2022, Gan said. In comparison, 2024 reflected lower hiring demand and fewer job vacancies, though the labour market remained tight.

Some graduates took longer to secure full-time employment, possibly contributing to the reported decrease in the full-time employment rate and increase in the unemployment rate at the six-month mark after leaving university, she added.

While the graduate employment survey “provides a snapshot” of the short-term outcomes, the government also monitors medium-term outcomes, Gan said, in response to a supplementary question from People’s Action Party (PAP) Member of Parliament (MP) Xie Yao Quan about whether the data also points to structural issues.

For Singaporean autonomous university graduates aged 25 to 29, employment rates have remained broadly stable over the decade, and long-term unemployment rates have been low, she said. She added that in 2024, about 95 per cent of employed autonomous university graduates in this age group were in full-time employment. 

“This suggests that our graduates do not have prolonged job search difficulties,” she said.

She also flagged that some clusters, such as health sciences and business, continue to see strong employment outcomes despite the broad decline.

The minister also noted the rise in median salary, on a yearly basis, despite the growth in the total number of graduates in the past five years. She added: “This indicates that employers continue to value the skills of our graduates.”

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Addressing a supplementary question from East Coast GRC MP Jessica Tan about the reason for the higher median salary, Gan said it reflects market trends, and how more graduates are being drawn to growth sectors, which pay higher salaries.

While sectoral employment rates fluctuate, these are to be expected given the cyclical nature of the economy and the labour market, she said.

The government will continue to work with the sector agencies to monitor these outcomes and identify more persistent trends for specific sectors, but beyond cyclical effects, some sectors tend to face more challenges in attracting graduates, the minister added.

“There are ongoing efforts by the sector agencies and industry to review how they can better attract graduates.”

Xie also asked a supplementary question on whether the Ministry of Education (MOE) is looking to adjust its assumptions in determining the number of places in each course of study at each university, following the survey results.

Gan said that MOE, together with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Manpower, regularly reviews the forecast of sectors’ investments and adjusts course spaces accordingly. This process accounts for employment prospects, manpower needs and student interests.

Joining the discussion, Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing added that rather than a “paper chase” of university qualifications for everyone, it is most important to equip Singaporeans with skill sets.

He also reiterated Gan’s point about tracking long-term trends, saying: “We cannot be responding to the short-term trends, always.”

“It takes us four years to produce a graduate. So when we design our courses, we must have a long-term perspective of what are the skill sets that are required by the market – not in the next one to two years, but in the next five to 10 years,” he said.

“And more importantly, what are the adjacent skill sets that will allow our people to pivot to new jobs that may be created and may not be even in existence today.”