{"id":31918,"date":"2026-02-26T22:07:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=31918"},"modified":"2026-02-26T22:07:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:07:36","slug":"about-90-drop-in-fresh-grads-applying-for-singapore-industry-traineeships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=31918","title":{"rendered":"About 90% drop in fresh grads applying for Singapore industry traineeships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 <!-- -->There has been a 90 per cent drop in applications for a government-funded graduate traineeship programme since it was launched in October 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">A significant number of applicants <!-- -->declined<!-- --> traineeship offers <!-- -->after finding full-time employment or choosing<!-- --> other opportunities, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said in a written parliamentary reply on Feb 25. This was based on feedback from many participating organisations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/askst-what-fresh-graduates-need-to-know-about-the-new-graduate-industry-traineeships?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">The Graduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT)<\/p>\n<p><\/a> <!-- -->were<!-- --> rolled out by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and <!-- -->Workforce Singapore<!-- --> to help fresh graduates across sectors gain <!-- -->structured, hands-on work<!-- --> experience over three to six months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Close to 400 vacancies have since been filled, said Dr Tan, as the Government works with various organisations to \u201cexpedite the filling\u201d of the allocated traineeships.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cWe continue to prioritise channelling fresh graduates to full-time employment,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">MOM <!-- -->said in an update on<!-- --> Feb 6 that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/business\/around-350-trainees-placed-with-organisations-under-programme-for-fresh-grads?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">around 350 trainees had been placed with organisations under the programme<\/p>\n<p><\/a>. Up to 800 positions have been offered across various sectors since its launch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Dr Tan was responding to Workers\u2019 Party MP He Ting Ru (Sengkang GRC) on <!-- -->why<!-- --> fewer than 50 per cent of the 800 places <!-- -->had been<!-- --> taken up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">WP MP Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) also asked whether the placement of 350 fresh graduates <!-- -->aligns<!-- --> with the Government\u2019s original projections, and when all 800 spots are expected to be filled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">As part of the programme, <!-- -->trainees<!-- --> receive a monthly allowance ranging from $1,800 to $2,400. The Government co-funds 70 per cent of the traineeship allowance, while host organisations <!-- -->cover<!-- --> the remaining 30 per cent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Dr Tan highlighted that organisations <!-- -->offering<!-- --> permanent employment to trainees before the completion of the traineeship would not be disadvantaged.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cIf a host organisation hires a trainee who has completed at least three months of the traineeship, the organisation will continue to receive subsidies for the remainder of the traineeship duration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He noted that there have been no conversions to full-time roles so far, as the first batch of trainees started their stints only in December 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Giam also asked about the proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) <!-- -->among<!-- --> the 350 placements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Dr Tan said about a third of these vacancies were offered by SMEs, and <!-- -->around<!-- --> one-third of the trainees under the GRIT programme were <!-- -->placed<!-- --> with SMEs correspondingly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He added that the trainees were roughly <!-- -->evenly split<!-- --> between <!-- -->the<!-- --> GRIT and GRIT@Gov programmes, which refer to vacancies in the private and public sectors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Participating organisations in the private sector include <!-- -->more than<!-- --> 50 companies <!-- -->across<!-- --> sectors such as manufacturing, financial services, information and communications technology, and professional services. These include DBS Bank, Grab, LinkedIn Singapore, OCBC Bank, Razer Asia-Pacific, UOB,\u00a0SATS, ST Engineering and deep-tech company Thales Solutions Asia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In the public sector, 60 agencies, including MOM, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Education, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, the Government Technology <!-- -->Agency<!-- --> of Singapore, the Health Promotion Board, the National Library Board, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and Singapore Polytechnic, have joined the programme and onboarded trainees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Dr Tan said: \u201cThe programmes were designed to improve the employability of graduates who needed more help to find a permanent job, amidst uncertain hiring sentiments last year compared to the exceptionally tight labour market in previous years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cWe have sourced GRIT vacancies from companies in growth sectors that can offer quality traineeships for our graduates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Singaporeans or permanent residents who graduated from the Institute of Technical Education, polytechnic and university, or from private universities and overseas institutions in 2024 or 2025, are eligible to apply for the traineeship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Fresh graduates who graduated in 2025 \u2013 but will receive their qualification or certification award only in 2026 \u2013 are also eligible for the programme.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Those who graduated earlier and completed national service in 2024 or 2025 are also eligible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/politics\/about-90-drop-in-fresh-grads-applying-for-spore-industry-traineeships\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 There has been a 90 per cent drop in applications for a government-funded graduate traineeship programme since it was launched in October 2025&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}