理工学院毕业生失业率达12.5%？！新加坡教育部预警2025年就业逆风期

2025年2月4日，新加坡教育部长陈振声在国会口头答复阿裕尼集选区议员毕丹星有关2025年理工学院毕业生就业前景评估的情况。

以下内容为新加坡眼根据国会英文资料翻译整理：

毕丹星（阿裕尼集选区议员）询问教育部长：基于2024年最新毕业生就业调查显示全职就业率下降，教育部对2025年理工学院毕业生就业形势有何评估？

陈振声（教育部长）：议长先生，请允许我在回答这项国会质询（PQ）时，一并回答文佳礼博士、徐锦莉女士、梁文辉先生、连荣华先生、毕丹星先生和胡美霞女士的国会质询所提出的事项。如有需要，我请这些议员在我回应后要求澄清。

议长：请继续。

陈振声（教育部长）：议长先生，就业率受多重因素影响。例如经济及劳动力市场情况。每年出现㆒些波动是意料㆗的事情。更重要的是，除了罗短期的周期性波动外，我们必须继续监察和应对可能影响毕业生就业能力的较长期趋势。

虽然 2024 年的劳动力市场仍趋紧，职位空缺仍然高于大流行前的水平，但与 2023 年相比，2024 年的招聘需求减少，职位空缺减少，这将有助于2024年的调查结果。根据五所理工学院进行的 2024 年毕业生就业调查，约45%的毕业生进入劳动市场。与2023年相比，这一群体中的全职长期就业率有所下降，失业率有所上升。

对不同专业的影响也不均衡。一些专业，如健康科学、人文和社会科学，继续取得强劲的就业成果。而工程学、信息和数字技术等专业的毕业生失业率较高。这可能是由于周期性的行业变化造成的，比如科技行业的不景气也影响了招聘需求。

我们还注意到，一些毕业生收到了全职岗位的邀请，但出于各种原因拒绝了，包括认为工作与生活缺乏平衡，或所提供的薪酬不符合他们的期望。我们将继续监测这一趋势是否持续，以及是否会对毕业生的就业结果产生长期影响。

理工学院将继续与行业伙伴紧密合作，为学生提供必要和紧缺的技能和能力，以确保我们的课程与不断变化的就业市场需求保持相关，并为学生提供高质量的实习机会。作为课程的一部分，理工学院还为学生提供教育和职业指导，包括简历撰写和面试技巧培训。在找工作方面需要更多支持的学生，还可以利用新加坡劳动力组织（Workforce Singapore）和全国职工总会（NTUC）的就业与就业能力研究所（Employment and Employability Institute）提供的职业配对服务和数字资源。

至于2025年，鉴于全球经济前景不明朗，我们将继续与理工学院和业界伙伴密切监察就业形势。

议长：有请毕丹星先生提问。

毕丹星（阿裕尼集选区议员）： 谢谢议长先生。我只是想向部长澄清一下，我想他在答复的前言中提到，我在以后的会议上还有一个附加问题。我在以后的会议上没有任何问题。这是唯㆒㆒个问题。

陈振声（教育部长）：是的。

毕丹星（阿裕尼集选区议员）：议长先生，我有两个问题。其一，根据《2024年理工学院毕业生就业调查》，应届本科生的失业率从2023年的7.3%上升至2024年的12.5%，与COVID-19大流行时的数字相当。部长是否对理工学院毕业生就业不足的前景感到担忧，他是否会指示理工学院在今后的毕业生就业调查中跟踪就业不足的数据？

据我所知，教育部在决定大学为不同学生（例如计算机科学专业的学生）提供多少名额时，也会关注就业不足的问题。我想知道理工学院是否也有类似的问题，以及申请理工学院课程的学生人数。部长在他的回答中提到，工程学、信息和数字技术相关课程的学生人数似乎较多，因此，这里的就业不足问题也同样令人担忧。

我的第二个问题是，自从国会就教育部的《理工学院与工教院应用学习强化计划（ASPIRE）进行辩论以来，已经过去了近十年时间，该计划旨在加强理工学院和工教院（ITE）的应用教育。教育部对该报告所提建议的进展情况有何评估，这些建议旨在使理工学院毕业生具备以下条件：第一，扎实的技能基础；第二，与工业界建立联系，以帮助加强课程设置，从而确保我们的理工学院毕业生取得良好的就业成果？

陈振声（教育部长）：议长先生，请容许我一并回答议员的问题，并参考一些已讨论过的数据。

长期趋势显示更多理工学院毕业生选择升学而非直接就业（2024年仅45%进入职场），需动态理解就业率波动。 这一点很重要。

在全职就业的人群中--这就是我们这次调查所讨论的--从长期的世俗趋势来看，更多的理工学院毕业生在进入就业市场之前立即继续深造。从某种意义上说，这是一个积极的趋势。而在这 45% 的毕业生中，去年的失业率有所上升，约占这 45% 的 5%。这就是第一点。

第二点是关于毕丹星先生提出的衡量就业不足的问题。这并不是一件容易的事情，因为不同的部门和看法对就业不足的定义各不相同，从国际劳工组织（ILO）到全国职工总会（NTUC），甚至人力部，他们都有不同的衡量方法。这也取决于你问的是谁。如果你问学生他们是否就业不足，我认为答案与你问老板他们是否认为自己的员工就业不足是完全不同的，尤其是对于应届毕业生而言。因此，我认为我们所能做的有一定的局限性。

尽管如此，我们必须认识到的更大问题是，我们如何确保我们的理工学院毕业生，或者ITE毕业生，甚至是我们的大学毕业生，不仅在入职时，而且在整个职业生涯中，都能找到能为他们赚取高薪的满意工作？我们必须在几个方面做到这一点，这也是对我们在 ASPIRE 报告方面取得的进展的回应。

我们需要做的第一件事是，我们必须非常紧密地加强行业与理工学院、行业与工教院以及行业与大学之间的合作。因为我们需要两到三年的时间才能培养出一名毕业生，我们必须能够与业界一起预测需求，不仅仅是在数量上，而是在几年后所需的技能类型上。这绝非易事，因为即使是行业也知道，两三年后，所需的技能类型和最适销对路的技能类型可能会发生变化，并可能随着时间的推移而演变。但我们首先要确保与各行业、贸工部密切合作，预测需求。

第二件事是，在一个瞬息万变的世界里，我认为没有人能够说：“我所学的课程在两三年后能很好地适应某项工作”。我们需要让学生掌握的不仅是某项工作的技能，还包括相邻的能力，使他们能够转向我们所说的相邻工作或互补性工作，这将使他们更容易就业。其中有些是硬技能，有些是软技能。其中一些技能使他们能够与不同国籍的其他伙伴合作，这样我们就能为他们拓宽市场机会，使他们能够转行，不一定只是在开始的时候，而是在整个职业生涯中。

因此，我们必须继续努力，确保我们的课程与行业相关，同时让我们的学生掌握互补、可替代的技能，让他们有更广泛的选择，而不是被狭隘地归类或孤立于特定行业。这正是 ASPIRE 报告所要做的，并将继续在这些方面取得进展。

议长： 有请毕丹星先生发言。

毕丹星（阿裕尼集选区议员）：谢谢议长先生。我注意到部长关于理工学院毕业生转入学位课程的观点，这是可以理解的。我想，在过去的十年里，教育部也曾设想过进入大学的学生群体参与率会有所上升，而现在与以前相比已经达到了42%。当然，另一个因素是我们现在也有了应用学习型大学，这本身可能对 ASPIRE 报告起到积极的推动作用。

但是，关于那些没有直接升入大学的学生人数，在应用学习方面，部长是否看到了可以改进的差距和问题，从而使学生，特别是理工学院毕业生的就业前景能够抵御其中的一些世俗趋势？

陈振声（教育部长）：议长先生，我只想就毕丹星先生的补充问题谈两点看法。是的，确实如此。为了确保我们的课程与时俱进，我们一直在努力。我们的学生所学到的技能也是与时俱进的。我们必须确保每年都会更新课程。即使是同样的课程，我们也必须根据行业的意见和我们在市场上的感觉来更新课程，这样我们才能满足长期的世俗需求和长期趋势，而不仅仅是周期性的短期趋势。因此，这是我们要做的一件事，而且必须继续做下去。

第二件事是，我们越来越多地推出了所谓的“工读文凭 ”（Work-Study diploma）或“工读学位”（Work-Study degree）。这些都是与行业合作的应用学习课程。这也是我们的另一个有力机制，确保我们的课程具有相关性，能够满足行业的及时需求。我们希望能够扩大 “勤工俭学 ”计划的数量，因为这将使其更加切合当前的需要，不仅适用于职前培训，也适用于继续教育和培训。这是我们加强前沿商业实践与学术界之间联系的最佳途径，这样我们才能培养出具备行业所需技能的学生。

我们必须继续双管齐下：既包括“工读文凭/学位”计划部分，也包括行业与教育机构之间的紧密联系。

议长先生，我们的提问时间已经过半，但我们只提出了第 4 个问题。因此，我只限已提出补充质询的议员提出补充质询。

以下是英文质询内容：

Mr Pritam Singhasked the Minister for Education what is the Ministry's assessment of the employment landscape for polytechnic graduates in 2025 in view of the results of the latest Graduate Employment Survey 2024 which showed that fewer graduates secured full-time permanent jobs.

The Minister for Education (Mr Chan Chun Sing): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission for my response to this Parliamentary Question (PQ) to also cover matters raised in the PQs by Dr Wan Rizal1, Ms See Jinli Jean, Mr Leong Mun Wai2, Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Mr Pritam Singh and Ms Foo Mee Har3, which are scheduled for the Sittings on and after 4 February 2025. And if need be, may I invite these Members to seek clarifications following my response, please.

Mr Speaker: Please go ahead.

Mr Chan Chun Sing: Mr Speaker, Sir, employment rates are affected by various factors such as the economic and labour market conditions. Some fluctuations from year-to-year are to be expected. More importantly, we must continue to monitor and respond to the longer-term secular trends, beyond the shorter-term cyclical fluctuations, that may affect the employability of our graduates.

While the labour market remained tight in 2024, with job vacancies remaining higher than pre-pandemic levels, 2024 saw lower hiring demand and fewer vacancies compared to 2023, which would have contributed to the survey findings for 2024. Based on the 2024 Graduate Employment Survey conducted by the five polytechnics, about 45% of graduates were economically active. Among this group, there was a decrease in the full-time permanent employment rate and an increase in the unemployment rate as compared to 2023.

The impact was also uneven across course clusters. Some course clusters, such as health sciences, and humanities and social sciences continued to see strong employment outcomes. Graduates from course clusters, such as engineering, and information and digital technologies had higher unemployment rates. And this could be due to cyclical sectoral changes, such as the downturn in the tech sector, which also affected hiring demand.

We have also observed that some graduates have received full-time permanent job offers but have declined them for various reasons, including 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.

The polytechnics will continue to equip students with the necessary and in-demand skills and competencies by working closely with industry partners to ensure that our curriculum remain relevant and responsive to the evolving job market demands, as well as to provide quality internship opportunities for students. The polytechnics further support students by providing Education and Career Guidance as part of the curriculum, which includes resume writing and interview skills training. Those who require more support in finding a job can also tap on the career matching services and digital resources offered by Workforce Singapore's and the National Trades Union Congress' (NTUC's) Employment and Employability Institute.

For 2025, given global economic uncertainties, we will continue to monitor the situation closely together with the polytechnics and industry partners.

Mr Speaker: Mr Pritam Singh.

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Just to clarify with the Minister, I think that in his preamble to the reply, he mentioned that I had an additional question in future Sittings or so. I do not have any questions for future Sitting. This is the only one.

Mr Chan Chun Sing: Yes.

Mr Pritam Singh: I have two questions, Mr Speaker. One, according to the Polytechnic Graduate Employment Survey 2024, the unemployment rate for fresh undergraduates rose from 7.3% in 2023, to 12.5% in 2024, comparable to the numbers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Is the Minister concerned about the prospect of under-employment amongst polytechnic graduates, and would he direct the polytechnics to track under-employment data in future iterations of the Graduate Employment Survey?

I understand that the Ministry of Education (MOE) is concerned about under-employment, when it determines how many places are open in universities for different students, for example, for computer science. And I am wondering whether there is a similar concern at the polytechnics and the number of students who apply for polytechnic courses. The Minister mentioned in his reply that the numbers seem higher for engineering, and information and digital technologies-related courses, and hence, the concern would also apply with regard to under-employment here.

The second question I have is that almost 10 years have passed since this House debated MOE's Applied Study in Polytechnics and ITE Review (ASPIRE) report, which sought to strengthen applied education at polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE). What is the Ministry's assessment of the progress made in the ASPIRE report's recommendations in equipping polytechnic graduates with: one, strong skills foundation; and two, sector linkages with industry to help enhance programme offerings, so as to ensure good job outcomes for our polytechnic graduates?

Mr Chan Chun Sing: Mr Speaker, Sir, if I may answer the Member's questions together and put in context some of the data that has been discussed.

Over time, we have seen the following trends. The first is that the number of polytechnic graduate students that are continuing further studies has increased. So, the base of the people that are going into full-time employment directly has decreased. So, this is an important point.

Within the group of people who are going into full-time employment – this is what we are talking about in this particular survey – the long-term secular trend, more polytechnic graduates go on to study immediately before they enter the job market. That is, in some sense, a positive trend. Then, those who go directly into work are the remainder 45% or so, and within this 45%, that is where we get the uptick of last year, about a 5% of this 45%, in change in the unemployment. So, that is the first point.

The second point to Mr Singh's question about measuring under-employment. This is not something that is easy to do because the definition of under-employment varies across different sectors and perceptions, from the International Labour Organization (ILO) to NTUC and even the Ministry of Manpower, they have different ways of trying to measure it. It also depends on who you ask. If you ask the students whether they are under-employed, I think the answer is quite different than if you ask the boss whether they think their employee is under-employed, especially for fresh graduates. So, I think there is some limitation in what we can do.

Having said that, the larger issue that we have to appreciate is how do we make sure that our polytechnic graduates, or for that matter, ITE graduates, and even our university graduates, can get fulfilling jobs that earn them a good salary, not just at the entry point, but also throughout their career? We have to do this on a few fronts – and this is also in response to the progress that we have made on the ASPIRE report.

The first thing that we need to do, is that we need very close industry-and-polytechnic, industry-and-ITE, and industry-and-university collaborations. Because it takes us two to three years to produce a graduate and we must be able to work with the industry to forecast demand, not just in terms of numbers, but the type of skills required in a few years' time. This is by no means an easy job, because even the industry will know that in two to three years' time, the type of skillsets that are required and are most marketable may change and may evolve over time. But the first thing is for us to make sure that we work closely with the industries, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, to forecast the demand.

The second thing is that in a fast-evolving world, I think nobody will be able to say, "My course will fit nicely into a particular job in two to three years' time". What we need to equip our people with are not just the skillsets of a particular job, but also adjacent competencies that allow them to pivot into what we call adjacent jobs or complementary jobs that will make them much more employable. Some of these are hard skills, some of these are soft skills. Some of these are skills that allow them to work with other partners across different nationalities so that we can widen the market opportunities for them, so that they can pivot, not necessarily just at the beginning, but also throughout their career.

So, this is how we must continue to work to make sure that our courses are relevant with industry input and at the same time, equip our people with the skills that are complementary, fungible, that they can have wider options, rather than be narrowly type-cast or siloed into specific sectors. And that is what the ASPIRE report has tried to do and will continue to progress on these fronts.

Mr Speaker: Mr Singh.

Mr Pritam Singh: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I note Minister's points about the transit of polytechnic graduates into degree courses and understandably so. I think in the previous decade, MOE had also envisage the cohort participation rate for students entering universities to be on the increase and it is 42% now compared to previously. And of course, the other factor is we have got applied learning universities now as well and that may in itself be a positive fillip with regard to the ASPIRE report.

But in regard to the numbers of students who are not transiting to the university directly, on the applied learning front, does the Minister see gaps and issues that can be improved so that the employment prospects of students, polytechnic graduates specifically, can withstand some of these secular trends?

Mr Chan Chun Sing: Mr Speaker, Sir, just two comments in response to Mr Singh's supplementary questions. Yes, indeed. This is always a work in progress to make sure that our courses are relevant. The skills learnt by our students are also relevant and current. We have to make sure that every year, we have to refresh the curriculum. Even if it is the same course, we have to refresh the curriculum with the industries' input, with what we sense in the market, so that we can meet the longer-term secular needs, longer-term trends beyond just a cyclical short-term trends. So, that is one thing that we do and we must continue to do.

The second thing that has come through here is also, increasingly, we have what we call the Work-Study diploma or Work-Study degree. These are applied learning programmes in collaboration with the industries. This is also another strong mechanism for us to make sure that our courses are relevant and are able to meet the just-in-time demand of the industries. We hope to be able to expand the number of Work-Study programmes, because this will make it more current, not just for the pre-employment training, but also for the continuing education and training. This is the best way for us to tighten the nexus between frontier business practices and academia, so that we can churn out students with the skillsets that the industries need.

We must continue on both fronts – both the work-study part, and the tight nexus between industry and the education institutions.

Mr Speaker: We are more than halfway through Question Time and we are only at Question No 4. So, I am going to confine supplementary questions to only those who have filed PQs.