SINGAPORE - The salaries of polytechnic graduates have moved up after remaining flat for two years.

A graduate employment survey, conducted by the five polytechnics on the class of 2015, showed that those in full-time employment earned a gross monthly salary of about $2,100.

In the previous two years, the salary remained at $2,000.

The gross monthly salary of post-national service graduates in full-time jobs also went up by $100, moving to $2,500.





GRAPHIC: JOINT POLYTECHNIC GRADUATE EMPLOYMENT SURVEY 2015



The results released on Friday (Jan 8) showed that the overall employment rate for the class of 2015 remained high. It was a 88.9 per cent for fresh graduates, and 91.5 per cent for post-national service graduates.

But the proportion of those with full-time permanent jobs, though, fell from 59.4 per cent for the class of 2014 to 57.9 per cent for those graduating last year.

On the other hand, the proportion of graduates who take up part-time or temporary employment increased to 31 per cent compared to 29.8 per cent the year before.

The polytechnics said most of the graduates taking on part-time or temporary work said they were doing so because they were pursuing or preparing to commence further studies .

With the expansion of university places last year, among polytechnic graduates, 20 per cent of them won a place in a publicly-funded university this year.

A few years ago, the figure stood at about 15 per cent.

Most of the new varsity places were created by the expansion of SIM University and the Singapore Institute of Technology which were created to offer degree pathways for polytechnic graduates.

The survey also compared the pay levels of graduates across different courses. It found that fresh graduates taking courses such as built environment, engineering and maritime, and health sciences were the best-paid.

Fresh graduates from the health sciences courses, which include physio- and occupational therapy, earned median monthly salaries of $2,350