Debated in Parliament on 4 Aug 2026.
Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Acting Minister for Manpower (a) what is the current availability of entry level job positions vis-à-vis the fresh graduates currently looking for jobs; and (b) whether the GRaduate Industry Traineeships Programme needs to be significantly expanded, enhanced and have its criteria reviewed.
The number of entry-level professionals, managers, executives and technicians job openings increased slightly from 32,500 in Dec 2025 to 32,800 in March 2026. Among the around 18,000 fresh graduates from our autonomous universities who recently graduated, about 3,600 are currently still seeking employment as at June 2026. Of the remainder, 9,100 have found employment, while 5,400 are outside the labour force, mainly for voluntary reasons, such as pursuing further education or taking a break before starting work. Fresh graduate employment outcomes have generally remained resilient. For the 2025 cohort of university graduates, around nine in 10 found employment 12 months after graduation, similar to previous cohorts.
To prepare our graduates for a fast-changing workplace, we work with the institutes of higher learning and industry to help students and fresh graduates gain meaningful work experience through work-based learning programmes, including in knowledge-intensive sectors that have seen faster artificial intelligence (AI) adoption. These include the Infocomm Media Development Authority's (IMDA's) TechSkills Accelerator and AI Apprenticeship Programme in the information and communications technology sector, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS') Polytechnic Talent for Finance Scheme (Apprenticeship Track) in the financial services sector. The MAS also recently launched the Young Talent Programme for AI in Finance, which equips students with applied AI and financial sector skills that are sought after by financial institutions.
In addition, we introduced the GRaduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) and GRIT@Gov last year to support fresh graduates who face difficulty in their initial job search. GRIT aims to bridge the gap to full-time employment by providing fresh graduates with industry-relevant skills and experience through traineeships in growing sectors and firms. Out of 800 places, more than 550 GRIT trainees have been recruited as of end-June. We have extended both programmes to the 2026 cohort of graduates and are prepared to make further enhancements, if necessary.
We will continue to review our suite of support for fresh graduates to gain meaningful work experience and improve their employability.
PAPERCUTS