BUILDING A STRONG SKILLS LANDSCAPE ACROSS SINGAPORE: BALANCING TECH WITH PEOPLE

by Tania Bowers Global Public Policy Director, APSCo

Singapore’s labour market has faced significant upheaval over the last decade. Traditionally highly skilled expats have been eager to be part of the country’s growth but this lessened in part due to repatriation during strict Covid lockdowns.

Furthermore, the country is rightly focused on building its own skills as it continues to move away from manual and industrial markets, and further develops its highly skilled workforce. While we’re seeing workforce quotas focus on aiding this, the planned changes to immigration requirements could also create difficulties in attracting the global skills required to support the wider workforce development. Combine this with the loss of local talent to western economies for education purposes and a struggle encouraging these resources back into the country, and the skills challenges have become more acute.

However, Singapore is also a hub of innovation that can provide a wealth of opportunities for local and global businesses, particularly in the tech remit. In recent weeks we’ve seen reports that the country’s education sector is open to using ChatGPT in schools, the use of AI tools in healthcare and advanced AI fraud tools being utilised. In the recruitment sector, Singapore is home to the developers of AI Verify – a Governance Testing Framework and Toolkit that promotes transparency between companies and their stakeholders through a combination of technical tests and process checks.

While Singapore is clearly being set up as a tech and AI hub, it needs skills to support this agenda, and therein lies the greatest challenge. There is a talent gap in the market, with the latest statistics from the Ministry of Manpower showing that unemployment levels remain low at just 2% in Q4 last year, while total employment figures increased for the fifth consecutive quarter.

Research from our Global Strategic Partner, LinkedIn, shows that the most in-demand skills last year were analytical and problem-solving attributes, as well as engineering and finance expertise. The most highly sought after roles paint a similar picture of highly skilled requirements, with software engineers, project managers and business analysts all ranking highly.

The same information from LinkedIn does suggest that hiring is starting to cool from the highs of 2021, but when we look at the skills that are growing in demand at the fastest rate, many are in short supply across the globe and particularly hard to source from the local Singapore community. LinkedIn’s data shows Machine Learning, Python (Programming Language) and Process Improvement experience are all in the fasted growing skills requirement category. Again, though many of these skills are in short supply. For example, a 2022 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study found that the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is facing a troubling gap in its cybersecurity workforce. A report from digital infrastructure company, Equinix also revealed that 64% of business technology decision-makers in the country state a shortage of workers with IT skills as one of the biggest risks facing their industry

The Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS), which comes into force later this year and is designed to ensure only highly skilled foreign talent is being brought into the country, could slow tech innovation. The ONE Pass route to work in Singapore provides a flexible route to skills access for employers, but it does create a level of uncertainty as it sits with the individual rather than the employer, meaning that moving from role to role is easier.

There’s clearly a balance that needs to be struck, not just between the attraction and development of local and foreign talent, but also in the number of workers operating as ONE Pass Holders, if a strong and sustainable labour market is to be developed. Striking this balance is going to be tough and will take time, but with the right collaboration between employers, authorities, trade associations, the hiring community, and the appropriate implementation of technology and AI in recruitment itself, it is achievable.

As Alena Salakhova, Regional Director at SThree, and Chair of the APSCo Asia Representative Committee, recently explained:

“There’s a clear commitment from Government and local authorities to support the skills agenda in the country and we’ve seen investment in building future proof skills through individual training grants that we welcome. The challenge, though, lies in the execution of these initiatives longer-term. There need to be clear lines of communication between Government and employers to ensure that the workforce is being developed, trained and utilised appropriately. Yes, upskilling local talent helps, but what happens with these individuals afterwards is what’s key. We may have a sudden pool of newly skilled data analysts who have retrained from another role, but if they’re not then being hired because employers are nervous about their tenure, we will continue to face the same challenges.”

There needs to be a consideration of the whole talent ecosystem and how it can work well together both now and in the future. The use of data, insights and technology will be crucial in achieving this. Providing employers investing in growth in Singapore with clear skills statistics, using predictive analytics to stay ahead of talent trends and using this information to support a balance of local and the right foreign talent, will help the country strengthen its reputation as a hub of excellence in sectors including technology and AI in the coming years. But it will take a combined approach. As Alena explained, “We want to bring together employers and Government bodies to help businesses adjust to hiring softer skills across the domestic workforce that can be developed to drive the professionalisation of this workforce even further.”

About APSCo

We are APSCo Global, an international trade body offering global services with local delivery to the international recruitment sector through our offices in Australia, Germany, throughout South East Asia and the UK.

Through our member services, we help differentiate the professional recruitment market by raising standards and delivering expert support and market intelligence to members of APSCo around the world.