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Sadly for young Singaporeans, the median salary for fresh university graduates in full-time employment remained at the same level of S$4,500 in 2025 as in 2024 (the figure excludes bonuses and employer’s CPF), according to the annual Graduate Employment Survey published by the Ministry of Education earlier this month.
What’s more, fewer of them succeeded in finding permanent employment within six months of graduation, at 83.4%, compared to 87.1% in 2024.
Fortunately, however, some good news regarding their future was buried in the data provided by Ministry of Manpower in its labour force report for 2025.
As it turns out, local graduates from the six public, autonomous universities see their salaries surge considerably before they even turn 30, with the median reaching S$6,338 last year, up by 5.7% from S$5,995 in 2024.
They are also way ahead of those in other educational avenues, where monthly incomes are as much as S$2,000 to S$3,000 lower, even after a few years in the labour market.
It confirms what I wrote about last month here, that there are really two Singapores—one inhabited by the tertiary degree holders and the other by everyone else. They live completely different lives due to the gulf in their economic circumstances (happily, over 60% of young Singaporeans complete university education these days).
What’s more, we have to remember that these figures move with time, so we shouldn’t compare the current figure for 25-29 year olds with recent graduates, but rather to what their starting salary was.
Back in 2019, six years ago, it was just S$3,600, so those who graduated at that time could have nearly doubled their money since leaving university.
Another optimistic finding is that these trends continue into your 30s. The median after another decade, for those degree holders aged 35 to 39, is close to S$10,000 per month. And the median for degree holders of all ages is S$9,000 (below is a reminder from my Feb article), putting them way over everybody else.
That’s why, while it may seem that fresh grads are having it a bit more difficult than their predecessors—with stagnating wages and a bit fewer opportunities for quick employment—they really have no reason to worry about the future.
Qualified, university-educated Singaporeans are still the country’s elite.
- Read other articles we’ve written on Singapore’s current affairs here.
Featured Image Credit: National University of Singapore