1 in 4 private school grads unemployed, involuntarily working part-time 6 months after graduation
SINGAPORE — About one in four (27.2 per cent) fresh graduates from private education institutes were either unemployed and still looking for a job, or in involuntary part-time or temporary employment, six months after graduating last year, the latest graduate employment survey has shown.
This is higher than the 9.3 per cent of fresh graduates from four autonomous universities — Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore, Singapore Management University and Singapore University of Social Sciences — who were in the same employment situation and 8.9 per cent of polytechnic graduates who have completed their National Service obligations.
This is the first time that the Committee for Private Education (CPE), which released its findings from the annual survey on Wednesday (April 10), has tracked involuntary part-time or temporary employment among private school graduates. This refers to those who tried but have failed to get a full-time permanent job offer so far.
The survey results were similar to last year’s, said SkillsFuture Singapore in a press release. Fresh graduates from the 2017/2018 cohort had marginally higher employment rates and the same median gross monthly salary — S$2,650 — as compared to the previous cohort.
Nevertheless, these figures continued to pale in comparison to autonomous university graduates, who earned a median gross income salary of S$3,500 and saw a 90.2 per cent overall employment rate.
The CPE surveyed about 2,800 fresh graduates from 40 private education institutes who are either working or are actively looking and available for a job. Graduates from 27 of the schools completed full-time bachelor’s level external degree programmes from between May 2017 and April 2018.
Here are some figures from the survey:
Overall employment rate: 80.7 per cent
Full-time permanent employment rate: 48.2 per cent
Proportion of freelancers: 5.7 per cent
Part-time/temporary employment rate: 26.8 per cent
Voluntary: 16.1 per cent (those who do not want to be employed full-time for a reason, such as preparing to begin further studies)
Involuntary: 10.7 per cent
Unemployment rate: 19.3 per cent
Unemployed but starting work soon: 2.8 per cent
Unemployed and still looking for a job: 16.5 per cent
Median gross monthly salary (full-time permanent employment): S$2,650
