SINGAPORE - Fresh university graduates from arts, design and media (ADM) courses typically have a lower employment rate and salaries compared with their peers in other sectors like engineering, built environment and business, said Minister of State for Education Gan Siow Huang.
This reflects the economic demand and labour market conditions of each sector, she said in Parliament on April 3.
However, over the past 10 years, the average employment rate for ADM graduates was around 88 per cent and their starting salaries grew by about 3.4 per cent each year, she added.
Ms Gan was responding to Nominated MP Jean See’s question about whether the Ministry of Education plans to find out why ADM and health sciences graduates have poorer salary outcomes, referencing the latest graduate employment survey released on Feb 22.
Ms See also asked whether the ministry plans to engage graduates and sector agencies to improve these outcomes.
The Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey results indicated that in 2023, 84 per cent of ADM graduates were employed, the lowest of all course clusters. Graduates from engineering, built environment and business recorded employment rates of 86.9 per cent, 91.6 per cent and 93.2 per cent respectively.
The survey also found that ADM graduates recorded the lowest median gross monthly salary of $3,740 in 2023, compared with their peers from information and digital technologies courses who took home the highest monthly pay at $5,500.
Ms Gan said the nature of work and business structures in the ADM sector means that there are more freelancers and self-employed persons (SEPs) compared with other sectors, but there are plans in place to support their training and development.
Separately, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong said in Parliament on March 7 during the discussion on his ministry’s budget that there are about 7,000 individuals, or one-third of the arts workforce, who are independent arts SEPs.
They are crucial to the continued success and growth of the arts ecosystem, he said, adding that the Government will invest an additional $100 million over the next four years to support Our SG Arts Plan, a strategic five-year road map from 2023 to 2027 to make arts pervasive and accessible to all.
Ms Gan said that under this plan, the National Arts Council is taking active steps to “grow capabilities and excellence in the arts sector, and support the training and development of SEPs”.
She added that the Infocomm Media Development Authority and DesignSingapore Council are working with universities and industry partners to provide graduates with relevant skill sets, industry exposure and internship opportunities.
While health sciences graduates experienced slower growth in median salaries over the past 10 years, they had a 6 per cent salary increase in 2023 from 2022, said Ms Gan.
This was higher than the average increase for university graduates in general, she added.
In 2023, health sciences graduates took home a median gross monthly salary of $3,910, up from $3,700 in 2022.
According to the survey, engineering graduates experienced a drop in median gross monthly salary to $4,500, from $4,600 in 2022, and business graduates took home $4,150, up from $4,100 in 2022.
“The Ministry of Health continues to work with healthcare clusters to review the starting salary and salary package of healthcare workers on a regular basis, to ensure that salaries remain competitive,” Ms Gan said.
She added that the ministry recently put out salary guidelines for the sector and has provided funding support to the community care sector over the last few years to raise salaries.
