10/04/2019

Employment Indicators For Private Education Institution (PEI) Graduates Remain Constant

1 in 2 PEI graduates in full-time permanent employment 6 months after graduation

The Committee for Private Education has released the results of the Private Education Institution (PEI) Graduate Employment Survey (GES) 2017/18. Employment outcomes¹ of the 2017/18 cohort are similar to those of the 2016/17 cohort.

Key Findings of PEI GES 2017/18

About 10,200 individuals completed full-time bachelor’s level external degree programmes (EDPs) at PEIs between May 2017 and April 2018, and 39.5% responded to the PEI GES survey. In comparison, about 10,200 individuals completed full-time bachelor’s level EDPs and 37% responded to the survey last year.

Of this group, this press release focuses on the employment outcomes of about 2,800 respondents who are economically active² fresh graduates, and excludes working adults undergoing part time degree programmes, and fresh graduates who are not economically active. A total of 40 PEIs were surveyed, of which 27 had graduates from full-time bachelor’s level EDPs.

Similar to the Polytechnic and Joint Autonomous Universities’ Graduate Employment Surveys, the PEI GES 2017/18 now provides information on a wider range of employment indicators, including part-time/temporary employment and unemployment rates, so as to give a fuller picture of the employment status of PEI graduates.

PEI fresh graduates from the 2017/18 cohort had marginally higher employment rates and the same median gross monthly salary as compared to the 2016/2017 cohort. The overall employment rate and full-time employment rate for PEI fresh graduates  were 80.7% and 48.2% respectively. In comparison, the corresponding figures for Autonomous University (AU) fresh graduates were 90.2% and 81.2%.

The proportion who were unemployed and still looking for a job, or who were in involuntary part-time/temporary employment, was 27.2% for PEI fresh graduates - higher than the 9.3% for AU fresh graduates and 8.9% for post-National Service polytechnic graduates. The survey also showed that the median gross monthly salary of PEI fresh graduates was $2,650, compared to $3,500 for AU fresh graduates and $2,501 for post-National Service polytechnic graduates.

¹ Definitions of the employment indicators are in Annex A.

² Economically active graduates are those who are working, or not working but actively looking and available for a job.