But gross monthly salary for those in full-time employment sees increase
The number of graduates securing employment after university saw a slight decline in 2024, but those who found jobs experienced an increase in monthly salaries, according to reports.
The latest Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey 2024 was released on Monday, which garnered responses from 12,500 graduates from full-time programmes at five universities, The Straits Times reported.
Among the respondents, 87.1% of graduates were able to find work within six months after completing their final exams, slightly lower than the 89.6% in 2023.
The decline also extends to students who were able to secure a full-time permanent job, which went down to 79.5% in 2024 from 84.1% a year prior, according to the report.
On the other hand, the number of students who landed freelance work and part-time employment slightly went up.
Graduates doing freelance work inched up to 1.6% in 2024, up from 1.5% a year prior. Those in part-time or temporary employment also went up to six percent, up from four percent in 2023.
Unemployment also went up among graduates, the report found. The number of them who were jobless within six months after graduation increased to 12.9%, up from 10.4%.
Among them, 4.4% were unemployed but starting work soon or starting a business venture, while 8.5% were still looking for a job.
Meanwhile, the report found that those who landed a full-time permanent job among the graduates saw a higher median gross monthly salary of $4,500.
This continues the upward trend since 2022, where gross monthly salary was at $4,221, before increasing to $4,317 in 2023, according to the report.
By course cluster, graduates from Information and Digital Technologies reported the highest gross monthly salary with $5,600. Other course clusters saw the following gross monthly salary for full-time permanent employment:
