Majority young people in Singapore seem to be interested to talk about issues related to today’s job situation, found recent online polls commissioned by The Straits Times. The theme was also keenly discussed at the first Youth Conversations session held on Saturday (April 7).

Conducted through popular social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, the polls asked respondents to rate issues that youths in Singapore deem as interesting topic. They were given four options in the Twitter poll, including ‘job (Singaporeans first)’, ‘fight fake news’, ‘improve public transport’, and ‘Smart nation (cashless)’.

As a result, almost half of the 2,110 responses gained (45 percent) indicated the topic of ‘job (Singaporeans first)’ was youth’s top issue to talk about, followed by ‘improve public transport’ which received 30 percent of the votes.

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Meanwhile, in the Instagram poll, respondents were asked to choose between four sets of topics with each set comprising two topics pitted against each other. More than 3,300 votes indicated concerns about finding a job compared to buying the first home (1,561 votes). However, stopping fake news received the most attention with 3,550 votes.

The polls was conducted last month, responding to Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu’s announcement that young people will be targeted for the Youth Conversations sessions. About 2,000 people aged between 15 and 35 are expected to take part the conferences, roadshows, schools and malls, and thousands more through its social media channels, as part of ongoing conversations.

Organiser, the National Youth Council, said the dialogues aim to “help take voices of youths into account in the policy-making process”. Besides the dialogues, the youth council is also conducting an ongoing online survey to get a sense of the topics youths are passionate about.

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