About 90% drop in fresh grads applying for Singapore industry traineeships

SINGAPORE – There has been a roughly 90 per cent drop in applications for a government-funded graduate traineeship programme since it was launched in October 2025.

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.

The Graduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT)

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.

Close to 400 vacancies have since been filled, said Dr Tan, as the Government works with various organisations to “expedite the filling” of the allocated traineeships.

“We continue to prioritise channelling fresh graduates to full-time employment,” he added.

MOM said in an update on Feb 6 that

around 350 trainees had been placed with organisations under the programme

. Up to 800 positions have been offered across various sectors since its launch.

Dr Tan was responding to Workers’ Party MP He Ting Ru (Sengkang GRC) on why fewer than 50 per cent of the 800 places had been taken up.

WP MP Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) also asked whether the placement of 350 fresh graduates aligns with the Government’s original projections, and when all 800 spots are expected to be filled.

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.

Dr Tan highlighted that organisations offering permanent employment to trainees before the completion of the traineeship would not be disadvantaged.

“If 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,” he said.

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.

Mr Giam also asked about the proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) among the 350 placements.

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.

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.

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, SATS, ST Engineering and deep-tech company Thales Solutions Asia.

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.

Dr Tan said: “The 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.

“We have sourced GRIT vacancies from companies in growth sectors that can offer quality traineeships for our graduates.”

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.

Fresh graduates who graduated in 2025 – but will receive their qualification or certification award only in 2026 – are also eligible for the programme.

Those who graduated earlier and completed national service in 2024 or 2025 are also eligible.