SINGAPORE: Up to 800 traineeships will be offered by private firms and public sector agencies from October 2025 under a new scheme designed to address growing concerns among graduates over limited job opportunities.
The Graduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) initiative will see allowances ranging from S$1,800 to S$2,400 per month, depending on the scope of the role. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Workforce Singapore (WSG) and the Public Service Division (PSD) outlined the scheme in a factsheet on 22 August.
Under the funding model, the government will cover 70 per cent of the monthly allowance, with host organisations bearing the remaining 30 per cent. Each traineeship will run for three to six months.
Targeting growth sectors
According to WSG, the traineeships will be made available in industries identified as growth areas, such as financial services, information and communication technology, manufacturing, and wholesale trade.
A parallel scheme known as GRIT@Gov will be coordinated by PSD to place participants in public sector agencies.
Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said the initiative is aimed at providing graduates with practical exposure and industry insights.
“One issue we have heard from graduates in their job search is that while there are jobs available, many employers are also looking for individuals with years of relevant working experience to fill them,” he noted.
He added: “Graduates cannot obviously obtain the required experience if they are not offered the opportunity in the first place.”
Announcement follows National Day Rally
The traineeship scheme comes shortly after Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced during his National Day Rally that a government-funded programme would be launched to address job concerns among young Singaporeans.
He emphasised that the rollout would begin with a focused scale and be expanded should the economic outlook deteriorate further.
The factsheet states that the initiative is open to Singapore citizens and permanent residents who graduated in 2024 or 2025 from universities, polytechnics, the Institute of Technical Education and other educational institutions. Holders of master’s and PhD qualifications will also be eligible.
Those who completed National Service in 2024 or 2025, or who will only officially graduate in 2026 but have completed their studies, will also qualify.
Applications are set to open in October, though graduates can register their interest ahead of time.
Conditions for host organisations
Companies accepting trainees will not be required to make Central Provident Fund contributions or provide employee benefits, as the arrangement does not constitute an employer-employee relationship.
The factsheet notes that non-monetary benefits may be offered at the discretion of the host organisation.
Trainees are encouraged to complete their stints but may exit early if they secure full-time employment.
Lessons from SGUnited Traineeships
The GRIT initiative builds on Singapore’s earlier SGUnited Traineeships Programme, launched in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to address economic uncertainty.
That programme provided allowances of between S$1,100 and S$2,500 per month, with the government covering 80 per cent of costs.
From June 2020 to March 2022, more than 12,500 participants took part, according to WSG.
Gillian Woo, director of enterprise programmes at WSG, noted that the initiative successfully facilitated long-term employment outcomes for many graduates.
Participation levels declined after the economy recovered, leading to the scheme’s closure.
Safeguards and mid-career support
To avoid displacing mid-career workers, the allowance and duration of GRIT traineeships have been set lower and shorter than comparable initiatives aimed at experienced workers.
For example, the Mid-Career Pathways Programme offers training allowances between S$1,800 and S$3,800.
Mid-career individuals can also access other schemes such as Career Conversion Programmes, which provide training and salary support.
The government has further stated that safeguards will prevent companies from retrenching employees in roles similar to those offered through the new traineeships.
Dr Tan: Govt ready to scale up the programme if labour market conditions worsen
Dr Tan explained that the government is ready to scale up the programme if labour market conditions worsen.
“We have worked out different contingency scenarios, different drawer plans, and it will build upon what we have now done as a framework,” he said.
He added that while Singapore’s long-term unemployment rate remains low, the government will monitor labour indicators and feedback closely.
“We are making sure that whatever traineeships that we are putting out there will not end up inadvertently cannibalising the ability for them to land on full-time jobs,” he said.
Several leading companies in key sectors have already committed to offering traineeships under GRIT.
These include Grab, Micron, OCBC, ST Engineering and Sea Limited.
Dr Tan said he hopes that organisations hosting trainees will eventually extend permanent opportunities to participants, though there is no obligation to do so.
The public sector is also advertising about 2,400 immediate vacancies for graduates through Careers@Gov, particularly in data, technology and digital services roles.
Singapore graduates face job market struggles amid shifting employment trends
The launch of GRIT comes amid mounting anxiety among young jobseekers.
Graduates from local universities have reported difficulties in securing stable employment, citing stiff competition, mismatched employer expectations and protracted hiring processes.
A straw poll conducted by CNA between 7 and 10 August among 105 graduates from the 2024 and 2025 cohorts found that 26.7 per cent had yet to secure full-time work.
A quarter of these respondents said they were not confident of doing so within the next six months.
Across the sample, 60 per cent described their job search as “somewhat difficult” or “very difficult”.
Recent survey findings
These results echo the Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey, released in February.
The survey reported that the proportion of fresh graduates securing employment within six months of completing final examinations fell from 89.6 per cent in 2023 to 87.1 per cent in 2024.
The share in full-time permanent roles also dropped, from 84.1 per cent to 79.5 per cent.
Broader concerns among jobseekers
Beyond the statistics, graduates have voiced doubts about the transparency and effectiveness of job-matching initiatives.
Some cited unresolved mismatches between graduate skills and market needs, while others pointed to broader structural pressures such as high operating costs and outsourcing trends.
Concerns have also been raised about the impact of foreign talent policies and advances in artificial intelligence on job availability.
At the same time, short-term contract arrangements and rising living costs have heightened feelings of insecurity among young workers.
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