Fewer fresh poly grads secure full-time jobs in 2024, but take home higher pay

SINGAPORE – Fewer fresh polytechnic graduates landed full-time permanent jobs in 2024, although more of them received high salaries.

Results of the latest Graduate Employment Survey (GES) by the five polytechnics released on Jan 13 show that 54.6 per cent of them were in full-time permanent jobs in 2024, compared with almost 60 per cent in 2023 and 59 per cent in 2022.

The median gross monthly salary of graduates in full-time permanent employment grew by $100, to $2,900 in 2024 from $2,800 in 2023.

Like in previous years, graduates from health sciences, humanities and social sciences, and information and digital technologies took home higher pay than their peers from other courses.

Overall, in 2024, 87.5 per cent of polytechnic graduates in the workforce found permanent, freelance or part-time jobs within six months of graduation or after completion of full-time national service.

This is a drop from 92.7 per cent in 2023 and 91.8 per cent in 2022, when job prospects steadily improved as Singapore’s economy gradually recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic.

A total of 7,614 out of 10,045 fresh polytechnic graduates responded to the latest survey in 2024. They were asked about their employment status as at Oct 1, 2024 – about six months after graduation.

Of those who responded, 50.4 per cent were in the labour force, while 48.9 per cent who were not actively looking for jobs were either pursuing or preparing to begin further studies. Of the rest, most said they were not seeking employment.

Also included in the survey were 5,290 of the 8,939 graduates from 2021 who completed their full-time NS between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024.

The unemployment rate of fresh polytechnic graduates rose from 7.3 per cent in 2023 to 12.5 per cent in 2024. This is comparable with 12.6 per cent in 2020, at the height of the pandemic.

Gaining traction as it recovered from the pandemic, Singapore’s economy grew by 3.6 per cent in 2022. Although economic growth eased to 1.2 per cent in 2023, it rose to 4 per cent in 2024.

Dr Maliki Osman, Second Minister for Education, stated in a Facebook post on Jan 13 that the 2024 GES results “speak volumes” about the value of Singapore’s polytechnic education.

He said: “While we are seeing some shifts in employment patterns, with more graduates opting for further studies, it’s encouraging to note that our graduates are commanding higher salaries across various sectors.”

In a statement, Mr Soh Wai Wah, principal and chief executive of Singapore Polytechnic, said: “Given the evolving job landscape, we are actively working to equip our students with the necessary skills and adaptability to navigate this well.

“This includes strengthening industry partnerships to provide real-world experience, integrating AI (artificial intelligence) literacy into our curriculum, and enhancing career guidance and support services,” he said on behalf of the Polytechnic Graduate Employment Survey committee.

Of the 5,769 graduates polled in 2024 who were in the workforce, 5.9 per cent were freelancing and 27 per cent were in temporary or part-time work. Similar to previous years, about half the polytechnic graduates in part-time or temporary employment indicated that they were concurrently pursuing or preparing to begin further studies.

Veteran economist Song Seng Wun told The Straits Times that Singapore’s economic growth in the last few years was due to recovery from the pandemic.

At the same time, with the emergence of new technologies, businesses have increasingly been restructuring and slowing down their hiring practices.

He said: “I would describe 2024 as the Singapore economy normalising to pre-Covid kind of conditions... But in the second half of last year, businesses were a little bit more cautious about hiring and payroll.”

He added that this could be due to businesses worrying more about slowing demand for their products and services in 2025, as well as the re-election of Donald Trump as US president and his impact on trade and foreign policy.

While hiring is still taking place and the economy continues to generate jobs, Mr Song said it may not be to the benefit of fresh graduates, who do not fulfil certain job requirements, including skills mismatch.

Mr Edwin Teo, 24, graduated from Republic Polytechnic in 2021 with a Diploma in Infocomm Security Management, now renamed Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics.

Although he currently draws a salary of more than $3,000 as a research and intelligence officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), he told ST that before joining MAS under its Tech and Data Talent Apprenticeship programme, he knew the difficulties fresh graduates faced when seeking jobs.

“It’s not easy for poly grads because of the job market, and there are fewer job vacancies for fresh graduates versus those that require work experience,” he said.

Mr Teo added that he intends to further his studies after his two-year apprenticeship programme ends, to better improve his job prospects.

His sentiments were shared by Miss Seraphina Chua, 20, who graduated from Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) in 2024 with a Diploma in Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics.

In her second year at NYP, she joined a cross-polytechnic group called Girls in Tech, through which she secured a year-long internship with multinational information technology firm NCS and subsequently a full-time job there as an IT security consultant.

“I’m fortunate that I did not need to search for jobs after graduating as I got an offer from NCS. But when I did search, I noticed that most job listings required people with three to five years of experience or qualifications other than a diploma, such as various IT certificates,” said Miss Chua.

Like Mr Teo, Miss Chua, who earns $3,000, recognises the importance of higher education to progress in her career. She is currently pursuing a degree in computing at Nanyang Technological University, with support from her employer under the NCS Fusion Work-Study programme.

The degree will take her four years to complete while she works full-time and studies part-time.

“I love that the reward at the end is a degree and relevant work experience, which will set me apart from my peers. Even though paper certificates are great, what’s more important is the relevant work experience,” said Miss Chua.