Fresh grads in Singapore offered higher pay for full-time jobs

Fresh graduates from four of Singapore’s local universities in 2021 have secured full-time jobs and salaries at a higher rate as compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to the annual Joint Graduate Employment Survey. 

Compared to 2020, fewer participants were also employed part-time or involved in traineeship programmes, found the survey.

Last year, the median gross monthly salary among fresh graduates in full-time jobs amounted to S$3,800 (US$2,828), up from S$3,700 (US$2,753) in 2020, and S$3,600 (US$2,679) in 2019. 

Graduates from business, information and digital technologies, and arts, design and media courses registered the largest increase in average gross monthly salaries for full-time jobs from 2020 to 2021. 

The survey also showed that some 84% of fresh graduates were employed in full-time jobs within six months of completing their final exams, an increase from 69.8% in 2020 and 81.7% in 2019.

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Fresh graduates who were in part-time or temporary jobs in 2021 fell by 8.7%, from 22.3% in 2020. Meanwhile, participants in the SGUnited Traineeships Programme fell to 3.6 percentage points in 2021, from 16.9 percentage points in 2020.