46.4% of private uni grads in S'pore found full-time jobs in 2024, down from 58.7% in 2023

About three-quarters of graduates of private education institutions between May 2023 and April 2024 secured employment within six months of graduating, according to the Graduate Employment Survey (GES) released by SkillsFuture Singapore on May 26.

The survey was conducted between November 2024 and March 2025 and received about 3,500 responses across 27 private education institutions.

Some 2,300 respondents were fresh graduates in the labour force.

Lower hiring demand than previous years

In a media release, SkillsFuture SG (SSG), noting slowing economic growth and overall lower hiring demand, reported that 74.8 per cent of the 2,300 respondents had found work in half a year post-graduation.

This is a decrease from 83.2 per cent from the 2022/2023 cohort.

This includes 46.4 per cent in full-time employment, down from 58.7 per cent in 2023, 24.2 per cent in part time or temporary employment, up from 18.9 per cent in 2023, and 4.2 per cent in freelance jobs, down from 5.7 per cent in 2023.

Meanwhile, the full-time employment numbers for Autonomous Universities (AU) graduates, namely those from NUS, NTU, SMU, SUTD and SUSS, sits at 87.1 per cent, and 65.2 per cent for post-NS polytechnic graduates.

Engineering, Sciences and Business courses topped the list of percentage of graduates in full-time permanent employment with 55.3, 51.8, and 50.1 per cent respectively.

Higher median gross monthly salary than last cohort

The survey also found that the median gross monthly salary of 2023/2024 PEI fresh graduates in full-time permanent employment increased to $3,500, as compared to $3,400 in the previous year.

Information and Digital Technologies graduates earned the highest median gross monthly salary in 2024, at $4,080.

The median gross monthly salary for AU fresh graduates was $4,500, and $3,000 for post-NS polytechnic graduates.

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