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

Follow our Budget debate live coverage here.

SINGAPORE - There has been a 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 had declined traineeship offers as they had found full-time employment or decided to pursue other opportunities, said Manpower Minister Tan See Leng in a written parliamentary reply on Feb 25. This was based on feedback from many participating organisations.

The Graduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT)

was rolled out by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Workforce Singapore (WSG) to help fresh graduates across sectors gain hands-on and structured working 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 had in an update on Feb 6 said

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 factors that contributed to the fewer than 50 per cent of the 800 places being taken up. WP MP Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) also asked whether the placement of 350 fresh graduates is in line with the Government’s original projections, and the timeline in which all 800 spots are expected to be filled.

As part of the programme, the 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 will fund the remaining 30 per cent.

Dr Tan highlighted that organisations that offer 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, noting there have been no conversions to full-time roles so far as the first batch of trainees only started their stints in December 2025.

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

Dr Tan said about a third of these vacancies were offered by SMEs, and about one‑third of trainees under the GRIT programme were with SMEs correspondingly.

He added that the trainees were roughly split equally between GRIT and GRIT@Gov programmes, which refer to vacancies in the private and public sectors.

Participating organisations in the private sector include over 50 companies in 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, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Education, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Government Technology of Singapore, Health Promotion Board, National Library Board, Urban Redevelopment Authority and Singapore Polytechnic have joined the programme and onboarded trainees.

Said Dr Tan: “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 ITE, polytechnic and university, or from private universities and overseas institutions in 2024 and 2025, are eligible to apply for the traineeship. Fresh graduates who graduated in 2025 – but will only receive their qualification or certification award in 2026 – are also eligible for the programme. Those who graduated earlier and completed national service in 2024 or 2025 are also eligible.