We refer to the article “Foreign graduates on S’pore govt bonds finding job hunt tough” (Straits Times, Apr 29).
Foreign graduates can’t get jobs?
It states that “on average, foreign graduates are waiting up to six months to get a job now.
A ministry spokesman told The Straits Times that eight in 10 foreign students on MOE grants who graduated from a polytechnic or university in the past three years started work immediately or applied to the ministry to start serving their bonds at a later date to further their studies.
The rest, she added, may not be bond defaulters as some could still be job hunting. ”
20% bond defaulters?
– Does this mean that about 2 out of 10 may be bond defaulters?
If they do not indicate after say about 9 months that they have not started work, applied to further their studies or can’t find a job – shouldn’t they be classified as bond defaulters?
So, why was the recent reply in Parliament unable to even give an estimate of how many have defaulted on their bonds all these years?
Foreign graduates cost more to hire?
As to “the minimum requirement for the higher – tier Employment Pass (EP) has been raised to $3,300, but many companies are not willing to pay that much for a fresh graduate”
– Since employers do not have to contribute CPF for foreigners – they save 17% of salaries when they employ employment pass holders.
So, the equivalent salary of a Singaporean fresh graduate is $2,820 as it would cost the same as the employment pass minimum of $3,300 ($2,820 times 1.17).
However, the average gross monthly salary among fresh university graduates in full-time jobs in 2013 was $3,229, while the median gross monthly salary was $3,050 .
Therefore, these numbers may indicate that the perception being apparently promulgated in the subject news report that fresh foreign graduates have difficulties in getting a job, due to the higher minimum EP salary and preference for Singaporean graduates may be flawed – because hiring a foreigner on an employment pass at $3,300 is equivalent in labour costs to hiring a Singaporean at $2,820 – which is $478 ($3,229 times 1.17 minus $3,300) less than the average salary of a Singaporean graduate.
In other words, it may still be much cheaper to hire a foreign fresh graduate – not to mention the other advantages like males not having to serve national service, etc.
University real starting pay negative in 7 years?
Why do you think that the real growth in university graduates’ starting salary is estimated to be negative over the last 7 years or so?
S Pass issues?
As to “The alternative is to hire them on a lower-skilled S Pass, which has a lower salary requirement of $2,200 and offers lower chances of securing permanent residency. But many companies cannot do so as they have reached the quota for S Pass workers”
– This may highlight the issue that most companies may “max out” their S Pass quotas because foreign graduates may be more willing to work at such relatively low starting pay.
Poly Real starting pay dropped 5% in 5 years?
Why do you think that the median starting salary of polytechnic fresh graduates declined in real terms by an estimated 5 per cent over the last 5 years or about minus 1 per cent per annum?
SY Lee and Leong Sze Hian
