More than 2,800 job seekers have taken up these opportunities.
Citing personal observations, he noted that such a situation had occurred during 1998 to 2003 when big firms cut back on hiring, especially fresh graduates, as the local economy dealt with successive hits from the Asian Financial Crisis, the bursting of the dotcom bubble and the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak.
Recent graduates who spoke to CNA said that they were glad for the traineeship opportunities, in lieu of having a full-time job. Similarly, while Mr Chee hopes the 12-month traineeship would eventually turn into a full-time position, he said he is just “glad” for the chance to gain some experience, which could put him in better stead for his next job hunt - a prospect which he has already had to adjust his expectations for.
However, a spokesperson told CNA last month that they have not seen a “significant” increase in the take-up for workshops and personalised one-to-one career coaching, “partly due to the current COVID-19 situation”.The Singapore Management University , NUS and the Nanyang Technological University curate job offers on their respective job portals and have held virtual career fairs for their students.
The university is also tapping its network to identify full-time jobs, internships and traineeship opportunities for its graduates, said the NUS spokesperson. NUS has 7,000 first-degree graduates this year. Temasek Polytechnic identified 17 programmes with up to 2,100 training places, which can equip students with “in-demand knowledge and skills that will put them in good stead when the economy picks up”, said its spokesperson.In addition, TP provides a one-time credit of S$500 to each graduate to sign up for these courses, to ensure that “students are left with no out-of-pocket expenses” as they upskill and expand their skillsets.
And NP has created 100 traineeship positions and more than 80 campus jobs. To date, 50 per cent of these traineeships in Learning and Design, and 50 per cent of the campus jobs, have been taken up, said a spokesperson.In the longer run, the tertiary institutions are working to improve the employability of future graduates by updating their curriculum.
Some overseas studies have found more worrying records of longer-lasting negative outcomes associated with graduating into a recession, such as lower earnings for years.One such study by economists Philip Oreopoulos, Till Von Wachter and Andrew Heisz, looked at Canadian college students who joined the workforce during the downturns in the 1980s and 1990s.
It found that while there was an initial wage loss for those who graduated amid a weak economy and dismal job market, this negative hit would “diminish over time and fully disappear after three years in the labour market”. “We cannot rule out the possibility that entry economic conditions could have long-term negative effects not captured within the period of observation,” the study said, adding that similar studies conducted overseas tend to have much longer observational periods of 12 to 22 years.
The economy has also been able to churn out “more jobs than can be filled” by the local labour force, throwing up career and wage progression opportunities, said CIMB Private Banking economist Song Seng Wun. “So long as Singapore stays relevant to the world by continuing to create new industries and remaining an attractive destination for businesses to set up shop, there will always be job creation.
Echoing that, Mr Seah said the slew of support measures unveiled thus far has been “significantly stronger and far more comprehensive” compared to those in past crises.looking at reinventing the economy for a post-pandemic world.He was a fresh university graduate in 1999 when the Singapore economy was still reeling from the Asian Financial Crisis.
The severity of the economic slump and the likelihood of a protracted recovery given the uncertain nature of the coronavirus pandemic could leave more economic scars on the class of 2020, according to NUS senior economics lecturer Kelvin Seah and Maybank Kim Eng economist Chua Hak Bin.