SINGAPORE - Fresh university graduates from arts, design and media (ADM) courses typically have a lower employment rate and salaries compared to 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 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 latest 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 c...