If you’ve graduated in the last year or you’re about to, you’ve probably felt this weird disconnect: the news keeps saying Singapore’s job market is “fine,” but your group chat is full of people still sending out applications six months later. You’re not imagining it. Here’s what’s actually going on.
The traineeship that pays less than a McDonald’s management trainee
Let’s start with the story that’s been making rounds — because it’s the realest snapshot of what job hunting looks like right now.
As the Class of 2026 enters the market, a growing number of grads are turning to GRIT (Graduate Industry Traineeships), a government-funded scheme meant to give fresh grads without full-time offers some industry experience with government agencies or private companies. The catch: it pays between S$1,800 and S$2,400 a month — less than half the median fresh grad starting pay, and about two-thirds of what a McDonald’s management trainee earns, a job that only needs a pre-university diploma.
One 25-year-old grad from SUSS put it bluntly: after finishing four years of school, all I’d landed was a job paying half of what my friends were getting.
That’s the vibe a lot of this year’s cohort is dealing with: not unemployment exactly, but underemployment, or a first job that feels like a huge step down from what they expected after years of grinding through school.
So is the job market actually bad?
Kind of, but it’s more “cautious and slow” than “collapsing.”
In Parliament back in May, Manpower Minister Dr Tan See Leng addressed this directly: 74.4% of 2025 university grads in the labour force had landed a full-time job, down from 87.5% in 2022. But he flagged that 2022 was an unusually hot post-COVID hiring peak, and that over the last decade, employment rates for degree holders aged 25–29 have actually stayed fairly steady around 90%. (SWDA)
Translation: the market hasn’t fallen off a cliff, but it has cooled off hard compared to the abnormal hiring rush of a few years ago. And that cooldown is landing squarely on the newest, least-experienced jobseekers first.
Why it’s happening now
A few things are stacking on top of each other:
The post-pandemic hiring boom is over. Companies over-hired to catch up on backlogged demand in 2021–2022. That correction was always coming.
AI adoption is changing what entry-level roles even look like, with some tasks that used to go to fresh grads now automated or restructured.
High interest rates and cautious business spending have made companies slower to commit to permanent headcount.
A fresh shock from the Middle East: shipping restrictions through the Strait of Hormuz have driven up energy costs, which is dampening hiring sentiment right when it was supposed to be picking back up in early 2026. (SUTD)
There’s also a structural shift happening: employers increasingly expect fresh grads to already have real work experience before they’ll offer a permanent role, which is part of why internships have become almost mandatory rather than optional. SUTD’s analysis notes that grads across local universities are now completing an average of around two internships before they even graduate, and some cohorts average closer to three.
What this actually means if you’re job hunting right now
The honest read: most people do eventually find work, but it’s taking longer, and more people are landing in “stepping stone” roles first (like contract work, traineeships, and part-time gigs) rather than going straight into a permanent full-time job the way grads did a few years ago.
A few practical takeaways floating around from career resources right now:
Internships matter more than ever as proof you’re work-ready, even if you didn’t get one during school. Freelance work, competitions, or solid personal projects can help fill that gap.
Traineeships and temp roles aren’t a failure. They’re increasingly just how the first rung of the ladder works now. Nearly 9 in 10 grads who complete work-study programmes go on to find full-time employment.
Negotiate anyway. Career consultants note the biggest mistake fresh grads make isn’t a bad negotiation; it’s not negotiating at all.
The bottom line
Your job hunt taking longer than your parents’ (or even your older cousin’s) isn’t a sign you’re doing something wrong. It’s a genuinely tougher, more selective market shaped by forces well beyond your CV: a cooling economy, AI disruption, and now, oil shipping routes on the other side of the world.
Knowing why it’s hard doesn’t make the hunt less stressful, but it might make it a little less personal.
