Channel NewsAsia’s reporting of the Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey (JAUGES) for the 2025 cohort (published 5 March 2026) paints a picture of a jobs market that still offers opportunities — but one that handed fresh graduates a slightly tougher opening chapter than a year earlier.
The headline: among recent university graduates who were actively seeking work, 83.4% were employed within six months of their final exams in 2025, down from 87.1% in 2024. The universities note this continues a downward trend seen since 2022. At the same time, labour‑force participation rose to 92.2% (from 90.7% in 2024), meaning a larger share of graduates were actively looking for jobs rather than deferring to study or breaks. (CNA/JAUGES)
JAUGES introduced a new categorisation for the 2025 cohort: graduates who had accepted offers but not yet started, or those taking concrete steps to start a business, are now counted as having “secured employment.” Under this definition, the secured‑employment rate was 88.9% in 2025, compared with 91.2% in 2024 — a change the universities highlight as affecting direct year‑to‑year comparability. (CNA/JAUGES)
Paywise, the median gross monthly salary for fresh university graduates entering full‑time permanent roles remained unchanged at S$4,500. Job quality measures show a shift in role types: of those in the labour force who found work, 74.4% secured full‑time permanent employment (down from 79.4% in 2024), while the share in part‑time or temporary work increased to 7.2% (from 6.0%), with a larger portion of these positions described as involuntary. The remainder comprised freelancers or graduates waiting to start accepted offers or starting businesses. (CNA/JAUGES)
The joint universities — NUS, NTU, SMU, SUTD, SIT and SUSS — reported that job vacancies have moderated from the post‑pandemic peak. They attribute this to reduced churn and slower hiring as employers adopt more cautious recruitment amid economic uncertainty and geopolitical developments; outward‑oriented sectors such as information & communications have been particularly subdued. The survey covered roughly 14,400 graduates. (CNA/JAUGES)
A longer‑term perspective offers some reassurance: the article notes graduate outcomes typically improve after the six‑month mark, and that employment proportions for adjacent cohorts tend to converge by 12 months (for example, the 2023 and 2024 cohorts were comparable at about 95% by 12 months). The Manpower Minister and university statements cited in the piece emphasise the underlying resilience of the market even as hiring cools. (CNA/JAUGES)
What the article doesn’t provide — and what readers should keep in mind — are detailed breakdowns by discipline or degree, salary distributions by subject, employer hiring intentions for 2026, or the full methodological detail of the survey beyond sample size and the categorisation change. For those deeper questions the universities’ full JAUGES release would be the primary source. (CNA/JAUGES)
In short: the 2025 cohort still found employment in large numbers within six months, median starting pay held steady at S$4,500, and a higher share of graduates were actively job‑seeking — but the pace of hiring softened, full‑time permanent placements dipped, and part‑time/temporary work rose modestly. The picture suggests a market shifting from the post‑pandemic boom toward steadier, more cautious hiring — one in which many graduates still land roles, but some must wait longer or accept different kinds of entry‑level work. (CNA/JAUGES)
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