
The Big Story: Can’t land your first job? Manpower Minister says don’t worry
Published on 6 May 2026
Fresh graduates may be taking a little longer to land that first full-time job, but according to Manpower Minister Tan See Leng, that doesn’t necessarily mean the job market is weakening.
In Parliament, he pointed out that while recent figures show softer fresh graduate employment outcomes, those numbers are coming off an unusually strong post-Covid hiring surge, when companies were aggressively rehiring to catch up on demand.
So is this just a temporary adjustment, or a structural shift in how young people enter the workforce?
On The Big Story, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Professor Lawrence Loh, Department of Strategy and Policy, National University of Singapore, to find out more.
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