Data on Employment Outcomes of 2025 Graduating Cohort and Additional Career Support for Unemployed Graduates

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Wan Rizal, Jalan Besar GRC

Question

Dr Wan Rizal: To ask the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry tracks the 2025 graduating cohort’s employment outcomes at 12 months after graduation; (b) if so, what proportion of graduates unemployed or in part-time or temporary work at six months secured full-time permanent employment by 12 months; (c) what proportion remains unemployed; and (d) whether they will receive additional career coaching or placement support.

Response

1.The Ministry uses administrative data to track the employment outcomes of graduate cohorts beyond the six-month snapshot provided by the Graduate Employment Survey (GES). While these records indicate whether graduates are in paid employment, they do not capture whether a job is full-time or permanent. We are therefore unable to determine the proportion of graduates in part-time or temporary employment who subsequently secured full-time permanent employment by the 12-month mark.

2.Of the Class of 2025 graduates who had reported being unemployed at six months after their final examinations,

1. about seven in 10 from the autonomous universities found paid work by the 12-month mark, and
2. about eight in 10 from the polytechnics and nine in 10 from the Institute of Technical Education found paid work or were enrolled in full-time programmes at local Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) by the 12-month mark.

3.Based on the administrative data, we are unable to determine the proportion who remained unemployed at the 12-month mark. The remaining graduates without paid employment records could be pursuing studies in private education institutions or overseas, or working overseas or as freelancers.

4.Graduates can continue to access career coaching and job search support from their institutions. They can also approach the Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA) and NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) for career coaching, job matching, and training support, or apply for available structured traineeships under the Graduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) and GRIT@Gov programmes, and sectoral apprenticeships such as the Company-Led Training Programme under IMDA’s TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA).