Willing to wait rather than settle: Graduates nowadays are quick to turn down job offers if the salary isn’t right

SINGAPORE: More graduates in Singapore are turning down job offers if the salary does not meet their expectations, reflecting a shift in how young job seekers approach employment.

A recent graduate employment survey conducted by six autonomous universities, including the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, found that over 30% of graduates rejected job offers due to low pay.

Many graduates are becoming more selective, choosing to wait for better opportunities rather than accept roles that fall short of their expectations.

A survey released by Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower unveiled that salary is the top factor for local university graduates when looking for a job. It is the factor that is mostly considered, even more so than career development and job flexibility. 

Data revealed that approximately 35% of graduates who received job offers chose to decline the offer, with the reasoning that the salary did not meet their expectations. In terms of salaries, the latest graduate employment survey report shows that the median monthly salary for full-time jobs for 2025 public university graduates will still be S$4,500.

Graduates in information technology-related fields will have a median monthly salary of S$5,500, the finance and insurance industry, followed closely with salaries ranging from S$5,500 to S$8,000. Furthermore, engineering graduates earned a median monthly salary of approximately S$4,600, with architecture-related fields having a huge increase, rising by about 4% year-on-year.

More so, NTU’s business and computer engineering double degree graduates are reported to have an average monthly salary of nearly S$7,000, and NUS’s medical and computer science graduates can also get starting salaries of over S$6,000. 

Meanwhile, for graduates majoring in art, design, and media, their full-time employment rate is only 50%, and with a median monthly salary of S$3,840. Many graduates are also pursuing freelance or part-time work. 

Given the standards of the newer generation in terms of job employment, experts are now urging companies to focus on improving their salary rates, career development offerings, and work flexibility to attract more young and fresh talent in their pool.