ALTHOUGH employment outcomes worsened for Singapore’s polytechnic graduates in 2024, this was uneven across courses, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said in Parliament on Tuesday (Feb 4).
“For 2025, given global economic uncertainties, we will continue to monitor the situation closely together with the polytechnics and industry partners,” he said.
He was responding to questions from six Members of Parliament about polytechnic graduates’ employment outcomes, following the Polytechnic Graduate Employment Survey 2024 released on Jan 13.
Of some 45 per cent of fresh polytechnic graduates who were economically active in 2024, the full-time permanent employment rate was lower and the unemployment rate was higher, compared to 2023.
Chan said that yearly fluctuations in employment rates are to be expected, and the Ministry of Education (MOE) is continuously monitoring the secular trends beyond these fluctuations.
The 2024 job market remained tight, but did experience lower hiring demand and fewer vacancies than 2023, said the education minister.
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The impact on polytechnic graduates was uneven across course clusters. Those such as health sciences, as well as humanities and social sciences, continued to see strong employment outcomes.
But unemployment rates rose for graduates from course clusters such as engineering as well as information and digital technologies. This could be due to cyclical sectoral changes such as the tech sector downturn, which also affected hiring demand, said Chan.
Separately, some polytechnic graduates rejected full-time job offers for various reasons, he noted. This included “a perceived lack of work-life balance, or the offered pay not meeting their expectations”.
“We will continue to monitor if this trend persists and if it has a longer-term impact on graduates’ employment outcomes,” he added.
In a supplementary question, Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh asked if the curriculum could be improved so that polytechnic students could withstand cyclical changes.
Chan replied that MOE has been working with tertiary institutes and industry partners to ensure courses stay relevant to meet employer demands.
