Parliamentary Replies
Employment Situation for Graduates
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mrs Josephine Teo, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
Question
To ask the Minister for Education (a) if he will provide an update on the employment situation for the current batch of graduates from the polytechnics and universities; and (b) how many graduates are benefiting from government-funded schemes administered by various agencies to encourage their employment.
Response by Minister Ng Eng Hen
The Annual Graduate Employment Survey is conducted 6 months after the Polytechnic and University graduations which take place in April and July respectively. As such, we do not have data from the survey for the latest batch of graduates. However, in light of the economic situation, our universities and polytechnics have geared up their efforts to help their graduates find employment, explore further education opportunities, or start businesses. These include organising more career fairs, more counselling activities and introducing innovative means to help their graduates find employment.
DPM Teo Chee Hean had reported in July that the Public Service and related agencies had hired more than 13,000 fresh graduates and mid-career officers from January to May this year . The Public Service will continue hiring and take the opportunity to build up capability in the public sector. Within the education sector, MOE has stepped up our recruitment efforts and has surpassed our targets with more than 3,000 teachers and 680 allied educators recruited this year. In addition, we have also encouraged the Institutes of Higher Learning to offer jobs within their institutions to their graduates to help them weather the downturn.
Mrs Teo also asked about government-funded schemes to help graduates. The economic agencies have put in place several schemes to help our fresh graduates gain employment. For example, the Professional Skills Programme Traineeships scheme, administered by the various economic agencies, offers fresh graduates as well as retrenched professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), the opportunities to enhance their skills and employment prospects. As at end June 2009, around 180 companies have committed to offering about 1,500 traineeship places over the next 2 years.
Scholarships are also offered in specialised fields by agencies such as MAS’ Finance Scholarship Programme and EDB’s Joint Industry Postgraduate Programme. Fresh graduates can consider participating in these programmes to better prepare themselves for the job market when the economy improves.