More S’pore uni, poly grads land jobs by the one-year mark

SINGAPORE – About seven in 10 university graduates who were unemployed six months after their final examinations had found jobs by the one-year mark, according to new government data.

In a written parliamentary response on Nov 3, Education Minister Desmond Lee noted similar improvements across the graduates from other tertiary tracks who were unemployed at the six-month mark.

Among polytechnic graduates who were unemployed six months after graduation, about eight in 10 had found paid work or enrolled in full-time studies at local institutes of higher learning by the one-year mark.

The corresponding figure for Institute of Technical Education (ITE) graduates was nine in 10.

Lee was responding to Wan Rizal (Jalan Besar GRC), who asked about unemployment rates of 2025 graduates one year after their graduation, and the support for those who remain unemployed.

The latest data, which comes after concerns over weaker employment prospects for fresh graduates, offers a fuller picture of the job market, indicating that fresh job seekers may take longer to find employment, but most do so eventually.

The latest graduate employment survey, released on March 5, showed that 74.4% of university graduates secured full-time positions six months after graduation in 2025, down from 79.4% in 2024.

The six autonomous universities had said in a statement that based on past cohorts, employment rates improve beyond the six-month mark.

They attributed the outcomes partly to more cautious hiring amid economic uncertainty and geopolitical developments, as well as a moderation in job vacancies from the post-pandemic peak.

Lee said the Ministry of Education uses administrative data to track the outcomes of graduate cohorts beyond the six-month snapshot provided by the graduate employment survey.

However, these records show only whether graduates are in paid employment, not whether a job is full-time or permanent.

He added that the ministry is unable to determine the proportion of graduates who are still unemployed at the 12-month mark.

“The remaining graduates without paid employment records could be pursuing studies in private education institutions or overseas, or working overseas or as freelancers,” said Lee.

In a separate parliamentary reply on Nov 3, Acting Minister for Manpower Jasmin Lau gave figures showing a similar improvement in graduate employment outcomes.

The unemployment rates of 2025 fresh graduates from autonomous universities fell from 16.6% at the six-month mark to 7% at the one-year mark.

For graduates from private education institutions, the rate dipped from 24.1% to 7.1%, while that for polytechnic graduates fell from 12.8% to 3.2%.

Addressing Mariam Jaafar (Sembawang GRC), who asked for a breakdown of graduate unemployment rates by field of study, Lau said a large proportion of polytechnic graduates pursue further studies. This varies significantly across course clusters.

Sciences, engineering, and arts, design and media were the three course clusters among the 2025 autonomous university graduates that recorded the highest unemployment rates six months after graduation, ranging from about 22.5% to 19.9%.

For graduates from private education institutions, those who studied information and digital technologies had the highest unemployment rate six months after graduation, at 34.2%.

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