Reasons for Lower Proportion of Fresh Graduates in Full-time Employment and Extent of Help from GRaduate Industry Traineeship Programme

Mr Edward Chia Bing Hui asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the GRaduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) Programme will affect the long-term earning potential of fresh graduates; (b) what guardrails guide its implementation and how are these reviewed; and (c) how are host employers and sectors selected, especially in strategic growth sectors.

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Minister for Manpower what plans does the Ministry have to encourage host employers to fairly consider fresh graduates participating in the GRaduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) Programme for conversion to full-time positions.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the number of companies that will be participating in the GRaduate Industry Traineeships programme; and (b) what is the allocation breakdown of the 800 traineeship places among the universities, polytechnics and ITEs.

Ms Gho Sze Kee asked the Minister for Manpower (a) how many companies are currently on board the GRaduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) Programme; and (b) how will the Ministry monitor and ensure the quality of the traineeship experience.

Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what measures are there to ensure that GRaduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) offer meaningful, structured learning experiences for fresh graduates; (b) how will the Ministry monitor the quality of host organisations and mentorship provided; and (c) how will GRIT draw from best practices in internship programmes at tertiary institutions for a win-win outcome for trainees and participating companies.

Dr Hamid Razak asked the Minister for Manpower what safeguards are in place under the GRaduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) Programme to ensure that the emphasis remains on providing meaningful training and developmental opportunities to fresh graduates, rather than on cost-savings for host organisations.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Manpower (a) how the initial number of 800 GRaduate Industry Traineeship positions was determined; and (b) what is the Ministry's projected demand for traineeship placements based on the number of recent graduates in 2024 and 2025 who are seeking employment.

Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what key factors contribute to the decrease in employment in permanent jobs for fresh graduates; (b) what are the goals and KPIs of the new Government-funded traineeship programme for recent graduates; and (c) how does it address the factors affecting permanent jobs for fresh graduates and what other measures are planned to arrest this employment trend.

I would also like to invite all Members to seek clarifications after and consider withdrawing the questions filed for future Sittings, if they have been addressed.

Mr Yip Hon Weng and Mr Xie Yao Quan asked about the key factors contributing to the decrease in permanent employment of fresh graduates. First, I would like to clarify that we have not seen a decrease in permanent employment of fresh graduates in the 2025 cohort so far. Mr Yip and Mr Xie may be referring to the decrease in the permanent employment rate of fresh graduates six months after graduation from 2023 to 2024, reported in the Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey. Based on our data so far, we have, in fact, seen some improvement in employment rates from 2024 to 2025.

As of June this year, around 9,300 graduates from the 2025 cohort, or 52%, were employed. This employment rate was higher than that of the 2024 cohort at the same time last year, when 8,600 graduates, or 48% of the 2024 cohort, were employed. The proportion of graduates in permanent employment has also increased, at about 44% in 2025 compared to 37% in 2024. I believe these figures will improve further, as many graduates were only beginning their job searches in June.

The employment rate of the 2024 cohort has risen from 48%, as mentioned earlier, to 88% this June.

That said, Members of the House, we recognise the anxieties and challenges faced by fresh graduates in their job searches. Based on our data, we assess that this might be partly driven by a significantly higher number of fresh graduates from the 2025 cohort entering the job market immediately after graduation, compared to last year.

With your permission, Mr Speaker, Sir, may I display a chart to better illustrate my point and may I ask the Clerks to distribute a copy as well.

Members may also access these materials through the MP@SGPARL App.

If Members look at the chart that has been distributed, compared to the same time last year, there were about 2,400 more fresh graduates looking for a job instead of either taking a gap break or going for further studies.

Hence, even though there were about 700 more fresh graduates who were employed, the additional 1,700 active jobseekers who had yet to find a job may have contributed to a stronger sense of job competition among fresh graduates.

Moreover, external factors including economic headwinds from increased trade tensions, the imposition of tariffs and geopolitical conflict and growing concerns over artificial intelligence taking over entry-level jobs have added to the anxieties of our fresh graduates. Therefore, even though graduate employment rates remain stable, we need to support the additional influx of graduates looking for work.

We have introduced GRIT to give graduates an opportunity to pick up industry experience and practical skills to boost their employability in the longer term. This model builds on positive results seen for the trainees who participated during the COVID-era SGUnited Traineeships (SGUT).

To Ms Eileen Chong's question, close to 90% of SGUT trainees found regular employment within six months after completion.

While the median starting salary for degree graduate trainees who participated in SGUT, at close to $3,400, was slightly lower than the median of $3,700 reported in the Joint Autonomous University Graduate Employment Survey 2020, these figures are not directly comparable, because the demographics of both groups differ.

The economic context for the introduction of SGUT and GRIT also differ. SGUT focused on increasing capacity to reduce graduate unemployment during an economic crisis, while our current GRIT programme focuses on the provision of a limited number of quality traineeship opportunities to provide reassurance to graduates. Hence, the outcomes of GRIT may not mirror that of SGUT.

There have been several questions raised over how GRIT can support graduates to gain sustained full-time employment eventually. We have designed the scheme with a few key considerations to achieve this.

First, we will ensure that the traineeships are of high quality, so that they improve the employability of graduates in the longer term. Mr Edward Chia, Ms Gho Sze Kee and Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked about the selection of companies currently on-board for GRIT. Workforce Singapore (WSG) has worked with sector agencies to identify leading companies as host organisations for the programme.

These companies come from key growth sectors such as financial services, and information and communications, which offer a large number of good jobs. They have a good track record of hiring and training locals and are committed to offer a good mix of traineeship roles for graduates from all of our educational institutions.

To Mr Chia's, Ms Gho's, Ms Jessica Tan's, Ms Nadia Ahmad Samdin's and Dr Hamid Razak's questions about how the Ministry will monitor the quality of the traineeship experience, host companies will need to submit a traineeship development plan with learning outcomes that WSG will regularly review. WSG will also conduct check-ins with trainees to monitor and ensure the quality of the traineeship experience. These structured traineeships with leading companies will position trainees in good stead for jobs and for roles within or beyond the host organisations.

Ms Chong, Mr Patrick Tay and Ms Lee Hui Ying asked how we would support the conversion of trainees to full-time positions. To strengthen the pathway to full-time employment, WSG will strongly encourage host organisations to offer full-time employment where possible.

To support host organisations to do so even before the traineeships end, we will continue to provide allowance subsidies for host organisations that convert trainees who have completed at least three months of the traineeship. In addition, as part of the check-in with the trainees before the end of the traineeship, WSG will also proactively share employment resources, including career matching services to support trainees' transition to full-time employment.

Second, we have designed the scheme to provide support without crowding out full-time job positions that companies might otherwise offer to fresh graduates.

To Mr Gerald Giam's and Ms Poh Li San's question on the initial number of places, we have started GRIT with an initial capacity of 800 places – 500 private sector and 300 public sector.

Last week, when I released the Labour Market Report for the quarter ending June 2025, I have also shared that there are 30,000 entry level job positions available today for our fresh graduates to apply, so, I hope you can understand why we have very tightly ensured that this programme does not end up cannibalising full-time positions. This helps to safeguard both the quality of traineeships and at the same time, manage the risk of crowding out full-time positions.

To Mr Louis Chua's question on how we determined the traineeship allowance, we capped the maximum at $2,400, which is approximately half of the median starting salary of fresh graduates from autonomous universities. This is similar to the quantum for SGUT and is calibrated to ensure that trainees continue to prioritise full-time roles.

We also capped the duration of traineeships at six months to encourage employers to seriously consider the trainees for a higher paying full-time job at the end of the traineeship. This relates to Mr Chua's other question on why trainees will not be considered employees of the host organisation.

GRIT is meant to offer traineeships that build skills and early work experience through on-the-job training. It is not meant to be an employment subsidy, typically used to support groups that face more serious and chronic barriers to employment, such as, persons with disabilities. If companies see the value of trainees and wish to engage them on a longer-term basis, they should offer full-time positions.

Third, GRIT is designed to mitigate the risk of displacing existing employees, including mid-career workers. We have carefully selected host organisations that actively participate in workforce development efforts, including the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) or WSG programmes that support mid-career workers.

To Mr Ng Shi Xuan's question, WSG will also conduct checks on host companies' recent retrenchment activities to ensure that the traineeship roles are not similar to that of impacted workers.

This also speaks to Mr Kenneth Tiong's question on the risk of employers using traineeship grants to displace employees. Moreover, the traineeship allowance is calibrated to be lower than what host organisations can receive for mature individuals who are undergoing attachments under the Mid-Career Pathways Programme.

The Government stands ready to roll out further support if necessary. We are prepared to increase traineeship places and extend the programme if economic conditions worsen, or if there is demand for more traineeship places due to good outcomes for both graduates and employers.

In the meantime, we encourage all our fresh graduates to tap on the extensive career guidance and job matching support that has been made available through the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), WSG and NTUC's e2i.

To Dr Charlene Chen's query, to complement the education and career guidance provided by the Ministry of Education and IHLs, WSG and its partners offers a variety of career services and resources to students seeking to enter the workforce.

These advisory services include, not just career advisory, but also coaching services provided by both WSG and e2i, and they can be complemented with industry insights offered by WSG's Volunteer Career Advisors. Individuals can also look for job opportunities on WSG's MyCareersFuture portal, utilising its CareersFinder feature to explore potential careers and upskilling options.

Thank you, Sir. I would just like to ask the Minister if, beyond cyclical factors, the Ministry also assesses that there are structural factors driving the graduate employment situation, including, for example, the displacement of entry level jobs by artificial intelligence (AI)? And would the Ministry consider traineeships as a solution to some of these structural factors driving graduate employment?

Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for his supplementary question. I agree with the Member. Generative AI is indeed reshaping entry level jobs and increasingly advanced models automate quite a lot of the more routine and mundane tasks. But I think that contemporaneously, this shift is also creating new opportunities in AI-related fields, and it elevates the importance of soft skills, for instance, like critical thinking, creativity.

What we hope to do is to ensure that our young graduates continue to be ready, flexible, nimble enough to be able to adapt to leverage on AI positively, particularly given the world that we are in today – rapid disruptions, rapid pace of transformation.

So, to prepare our young graduates for career success in an AI era beyond the traineeships, the Government has put in place a mix of upskilling programmes, work-based learning, as well as career guidance initiatives, and under the National AI Strategy 2.0, for example, we are scaling up programmes like AI apprenticeship programmes, so that we can continue to boost our pipeline of young AI practitioners. Beyond the inclusion of AI-related modules within the curriculum at our IHLs to build up our students' digital fluencies, literacies, we have been evolving our education system. We work closely with Minister Lee's Ministry, so that we can continue to place an even greater focus on the soft skills that would continue to be important for career success in an AI era.

In addition, we have also stepped up support for career planning while they are in flight through the universities, through the IHLs. And WSG's career guidance efforts is integrated with them, so that we can support them to journey better and help them to work towards achieving their career goals.

Thank you, Speaker. I understand that most of our students studying in our IHLs already go through internship programmes and the effort is intended to equip our students or young jobseekers with relevant work experience, and some of these internships are also supported by existing Government programmes, such as the Global Ready Talent Programme. In this context, may I ask the Minister first, how does the GRIT programme differ from existing internships, in terms of expectations, oversight, mentorship, learning objectives? And the Minister also mentioned about soft skills; so, would there be efforts to also harmonise this with the Global Ready Talent Programme?

Secondly, the Minister mentioned that there will be regular check-ins with trainees. May I ask how frequent will these check-ins be and how will these enhance the overall trainee experiences and outcomes?

I thank Mr Chia for his supplementary questions. I want to keep it short, because I understand that quite a number of Members who have filed PQs would also want to raise other supplementary questions.

Suffice to say, when we create programmes like this, we try to be very precise, very differentiated towards a particular need, as the other programmes run contemporaneously. GRIT is intended to be a temporary scheme. This is meant to support fresh graduates amidst the current economic uncertainty and of course, we will monitor the take-up closely. We will work with our programme partners to map out and to see whether there is a need to scale up capacity and provide lateral links into all of these other programmes, including the Global Ready Talent Programme that the Member alluded to.

Before the end of the 12-month period, we will also review the outcomes and we will then consider the need to extend the programme, depending on how the labour market situation evolves at that particular point in time.

Perhaps on a slightly more uplifting note, we did end the first half of this year with a growth in gross domestic product (GDP). Our GDP grew year on year by 4.3%. So, this is really a very pre-emptive approach to try to resolve and help our fresh graduates to gain that confidence, to gain that exposure and to build their networks.

The rest of the scheme would continue to run in tandem. There is also a whole slew of measures that I had announced at the MOM Committee of Supply (COS) Budget this year on the Enterprise Workforce Transformation Package. And the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), working with the different agencies, has put up a $200 million package to develop Company Training Committees with all of the different companies. So, I think these measures come collectively, and I think that today, just to keep the scope of where we are on GRIT, it is meant to be a very tightly curated scheme, focusing on that delta of fresh graduates looking for opportunities for industrial attachments.

Two supplementary questions for the Minister. Firstly, on abuse by employers; secondly, on morale of GRIT trainees.

On the first supplementary question on abuse by employers, there may be employers who are keen and able to hire graduates on permanent employment but then use GRIT as sort of like a backdoor approach. How can MOM address this possible abuse?

Secondly, on the GRIT trainees, I know the scheme only starts on 1 October, but GRIT trainees, many of them may be on the GRIT scheme, but working alongside some of their classmates or schoolmates from last year, previous years, working alongside them and doing the same job, but their classmates are drawing sometimes maybe twice the pay because they are on permanent employment. How do we manage the morale of such trainees?

Mr Speaker, I will try to keep it short. WSG has implemented safeguards under the GRIT programme to protect trainees from potential abuses from host organisations, so, there is a traineeship agreement which has to be signed by both trainees and the host companies. This details what is the approved traineeship allowance, what are the working hours, the leave entitlements, including medical and annual leave, which is offered by the host organisations, and this is submitted to the programme partner for oversight.

The appointed programme partner will then conduct check-ins with trainees to ensure that they are settling in well and that they have good traineeship experience. Trainees will also have access to a dedicated hotline and email to support and to report any issues, and the appointed programme partner will intervene where necessary to address concerns. We work very closely with the Singapore Business Federation on this.

We also started the scheme with a lower number of places so that we avoid crowding out all these potential full-time positions. We want to maintain the quality of the traineeship. The purpose for GRIT trainees is not to do the same work, but it is to give them the opportunity to pick up the industry experiences, the practical skillsets, hopefully the soft skills as well as – I was sharing, earlier on, to Member Mr Xie Yao Quan's PQ – so that eventually they can quickly get full-time employment after the traineeship duration of up to six months is completed. And we urge all companies to consider these trainees, to offer them permanent employment after their traineeship.

Thank you, Sir. Sir, we have been hearing about companies hiring less entry level jobs. So, can I ask the Minister if companies in Singapore are indeed also hiring fewer entry level jobs; and if indeed this is a long-term trend, in addition to GRIT, what other policy measures may be necessary to support fresh graduate employment?

There are some companies who are limiting the hiring of entry level jobs, but there are also many companies that have ramped up the hiring of entry level jobs. The entire scope of our economy is quite wide. We are quite well differentiated. In many of the growth sectors that I had earlier on talked about, and that is how we approach them to help, these are the companies that are still actively hiring.

For the purpose of GRIT, we have worked with close to 50 companies in the growth sector and they have committed to offering places under the GRIT programme. They span quite a diverse range of sectors, including financial services, manufacturing, the information and communications technology (ICT) and media sector, wholesale trade and professional services. I can share with Members a list of some of these companies, which includes prominent industry leaders – OCBC, DBS, Singapore Technologies, the semi-conductor companies, Micron, Sembcorp, Grab, Sea, Standard Chartered Bank – they have all stepped forward to offer meaningful traineeship opportunities.

Many of these roles would include – I mean, the list is very long. What I have done is to also request my MOM colleagues to publish the list of job vacancies in all of the different sectors for our fresh graduates and our graduates to apply for, and this will be made available on a recurring basis. Some of these traineeship roles that I alluded to include data analysts, robotic process automation (RPA) specialist, research and development, policy and strategy, as well as functions in marketing in human resources and in business development. And of course, Members know we are all rapidly ageing, and from where I used to come from, healthcare, they are always hiring. I hope that gives Members that breadth and that spread of the type of entry level jobs that are available.

Thank you, Speaker. One supplementary question for the Minister. With regards to the GRIT@Gov Programme, would the Government commit to offering employment to trainees at the end of their traineeship, or at least set a clear expectation that the Government agencies should seek to hire these trainees into permanent roles rather than treating the programme as a stop gap measure?

I thank Ms Gho for that very incisive exhortation. Certainly, from the Government's perspective, the 300 places offered by the Government agencies, we hope that the moment they come on board, that industrial attachment, would indeed inspire and encourage many of these young trainees to sign up and join the Government.

I would also like to remind the hon Member that there are a separate 2,400 jobs at Careers@Gov, and I certainly hope that more than 300 would apply to the 2,400 vacancies we have at Careers@Gov and we will do our best to facilitate their onboarding. I hope that gives you that reassurance.

Thank you, Speaker. I just have two supplementary questions for the Minister. One on the point on after the GRIT programme, are there any specific measures to map some of these vacancies to these trainees who have completed the programme? Because the host organisations would have provided GRIT exposure, experience and training, which some of our small and medium enterprises (SMEs) may not be able to provide, and these graduates would then be more ready for the roles.

The second question is that if the entry level jobs are really going away, and in some cases they are, will this traineeship programme – after the completion, even if it is a 12-month programme, but your traineeships are three and six months – will it lead to a cycle of the trainees going for another cycle of traineeship?

I thank Ms Tan for her questions. Earlier on I did share quite a fair bit of insight on how we will build on the SGUT. So, very similar to the SGUT, we will track how many trainees would have found employment after the GRIT programme and whether it was with their host organisation as at the outset.

The appointed programme partner, while the trainees are in flight, will review, will conduct regular check-ins with the trainees to ensure that they are settling in well, and that the experience is generally beneficial, and it is good. Host companies who are part of this programme will also be required to submit a traineeship development plan, with learning outcomes so that WSG can regularly review. Lastly, as I said, to strengthen the pathway to full-time employment, WSG will strongly encourage host organisations to offer full-time employment where possible.

And to support host organisations to do so, to get them to convert these GRIT trainees earlier even before the traineeships end, we will continue to provide allowance subsidies for host organisations to convert the trainees who have completed at least three months. So, the entire period of traineeship is up to six months, but after three months if they convert, we will still continue to provide the subsidy.

Before the end of the traineeship, WSG will proactively work with them to share employment services, including career matching services to support the trainees' transition into full-time employment.

So, there is a whole slew of measures that we put in place to facilitate their onboarding to full-time employment.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Sir, I would imagine the demand for the GRIT scheme would far exceed the 800 places available. Will academic performance or prior job experience influence candidate selection for GRIT? If so, how will MOM ensure that the scheme does not disproportionately favour high-achieving candidates who are likely to secure jobs on their own, while leaving those with weaker academic results or limited practical experience still struggling to find employment?

My concern is less about the cannibalisation of entry level positions that the Minister mentioned earlier, but more about ensuring that jobseekers with weaker credentials are not inadvertently excluded from this scheme.

I thank Mr Giam for that supplementary questions. I want to bring the Member back to the chart that I distributed earlier. The delta of fresh graduates looking for jobs, that increase in numbers, is about 1,700. So, this initial number, and let me highlight and underscore, is an initial number of 800 traineeship positions, is actually approximately half of the increase in the number of job-seeking graduates in the 2025 cohort, compared to the 2024 cohort at the same point in June last year.

And over time, you have seen that over that one year in my combined PQ reply earlier on, for those graduates in 2024, that from over 40%, I think it was 48%, has gone up to 88% in June this year. So, we expect that with time this delta will continue to drop because it was only in June that we got the numbers, so we expect that the numbers going into full-time employment would continue to increase.

Because of that, as a result of the number of unemployed graduates gradually falling, because more of them land jobs overtime, because, as I have said, there are also 30,000 full-time job vacancies for fresh graduates that that were available, our end objective is to channel as many graduates as possible into full-time jobs.

To the Member's point about grades and how those with better grades take up the GRIT traineeship, my sense is that those who have better grades and soft skills, those who have actually gotten a lot more experience, and those who have actually done a lot more internships and industrial traineeships while they were undergoing studies, they would have already been able to secure many of these jobs. What we are trying to do is to make sure that we want to level up the playing field for those people who may not have had the opportunity, because they were taken up by other responsibilities while they were still undergoing the training within the IHLs.

And as I have said, if the Member over time feels that there are other opportunities, there are other ways, we are happy to listen to suggestions and solutions from yourself. And depending on GDP growth, depending on how the economy continues to progress and move along, we will not hesitate to ramp up the traineeships, ramp up all of the support resources available, because at the end, if you look at the entire history of what we have been doing over the last many years, it is really focusing on developing a very strong Singapore Core and Singapore workforce. I hope that gives Member the reassurance.

Thank you, Sir. There are two questions for Minister. The Minister did mention that the scheme is meant to be temporary. Are there any specific milestones or indicators that the Ministry has in mind before this scheme will cease or morph into a more permanent scheme?

And number two, I understand that we have taken in host organisations that have credibility and are able to give the development value to the trainees. Will you also be considering our local startups and companies that may similarly be able to offer value to our local graduates?

To the second point, certainly we have kept it very tight as at the outset, but if the scheme is successful and we are able to extend it to more companies, we certainly will work with the startups and the SMEs as well.

For the first point, we will monitor our GDP growth. We will also look at the unemployment statistics, particularly the long-term unemployment statistics. If you look at where we are today, the resident long-term unemployment rate is still very low, below 1%. And the spot unemployment is about just below 3%, about 2.8%, 2.9%.

At below 1%, a long-term unemployment rate, that 2% to 2.1% is actually churn. In any healthy economy, you would expect that churn to happen. That means that these people typically either take a gap, couple of weeks or months, but within six months they get back to a new job.

Today, like I said, I mean, there is that fear, that angst, that apprehension, but the reality on the ground is such that we are still in a relatively stable state.

Of course, things can change in the next one, two quarters, and we are cognisant of that. But what we are trying to do is to provide the reassurance, because to the individual looking for a job, he is most affected and impacted. No amount of statistics that I share will be able to allay his concerns, his fears and his anxiety. So, we want to scope this thing carefully to make sure that we can help them and we can reach out to all of them with maximum benefit.