Data on Fresh Graduates Employed on Fixed-term Contracts with Durations of One Year or Less

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry tracks the number and proportion of fresh graduates employed via fixed-term contracts with a duration of one year or less; (b) if so, over each of the past five years, what is the proportion of such fresh graduates from (i) ITE (ii) polytechnics (iii) autonomous universities and (iv) private universities; and (c) if not, why not.

My response will also cover matters raised in the questions by Ms Hany Soh, which are scheduled for subsequent Sittings.

The Graduate Employment Survey (GES) tracks both permanent employment as well as temporary employment. Temporary employment includes casual and fixed-term contracts of less than one year. Contracts of one year or more are included under permanent employment.

Over the last five years, an average of nine in 10 employed graduates were in full-time employment. Amongst them around nine in 10 were in permanent roles. The proportion of full-time employed graduates in temporary roles remained low and stable at one in 10. The proportion of such graduates by institution-type varied and was about 5% for autonomous university graduates, about 20% for polytechnic graduates, about 10% for Institute of Technical Education graduates and about 20% for private education institution graduates. Close to half of polytechnic graduates cited further studies as the reason for choosing temporary work.