Singapore’s university graduates are earning higher starting salary compared to last year, but they are finding it hard to get a full-time permanent job, revealed a survey conducted in Singapore.
Nearly 89.7 per cent found jobs within six months of their final examinations in 2016, up from 89.5 per cent in 2015. However, the proportion that secured full-time permanent jobs fell from 83.1 per cent in 2015 to 80.2 per cent.
These are the figures of Joint Graduate Employment Survey, which was conducted jointly by Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU).
The mean gross monthly salary for those employed in full-time permanent jobs was SGD 3,515 compared to SGD 3,468 in 2015. SMU graduates earned the highest median starting salary at SGD 3,500 compared to NUS graduates who earned SGD 3,400 and NTU graduates who earned SGD 3,300.
In the survey, 10,904 students participated out of 13,953 fresh graduates of the three universities. The survey was conducted in November last year, about six months after they have passed their final examinations.