In the blink of an eye, we are drawing very close to the mid-year mark! While Singapore’s move to Dorscon green in February heralded a new endemic Covid-19 norm, the turbulence is far from over.

Review of the Labour Market in H1 2023

As Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pointed out in his May Day Message 2023, heightened geopolitical tensions have caused our external environment to remain volatile. There’s a steady growth of nationalist sentiments which adversely affects international trade and cooperation. Your company may have borne the brunt of such protectionism, from higher import prices for instance.

Nonetheless, PM Lee shared a cautious optimism with regards to Singapore’s economic prospects. Singapore’s GDP grew by 3.6 percent in 2022—and is expected to grow another 0.5 to 2.5 percent this year. Sectors hardest hit by the pandemic such as tourism and hospitality are on the road to recovery.

The labour market in particular reflects PM Lee’s sentiments—overall unemployment has fallen from 2 percent of the total workforce in Q4 2022 to 1.8 percent in Q1 2023. This is despite the slight uptick of retrenchment figures to an estimated 4,000 in the first quarter of this year.

With different sectors having disparate growth outlooks, employment growth in Singapore has been uneven across industries in 2023. The outlook for the construction industry remains relatively weak. In contrast, these three industries were highlighted as growth sectors by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM):

• Banking and Finance
• Information Technology
• Professional Services.
   

Labour Market Outlook in H2 2023

What can your company expect in the second half of this year? According to the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Future of Jobs Report 2023, here are 2 key trends which will have a direct bearing on Singapore’s labour market.

1. High structural labour market churn: The WEF estimates that Singapore’s labour market churn will be 21 percent. Simply put, structural labour market churn is an aggregate measure of job-to-job movement among workers in the local labour market (not including job movement for personal reasons). That means nearly one-fifth of the workforce is poised for job reallocation, whether it be via the destruction of existing roles or the creation of new roles.

AI and Machine Learning Specialists is the role with the highest net growth in Singapore, followed by Business Development Professionals. It is interesting to note that the role of Managing Directors and Chief Executives—along with Data Entry Clerks—reported the greatest net decline.

2. Swift advancements in technology: As shown by the fastest-growing and fastest-declining roles, widespread digitalisation is a key driver in Singapore’s structural labour market churn. Over 85 percent of companies surveyed are looking to increase adoption of new and frontier technologies as well as broaden digital access.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has recently come under the spotlight. Companies estimate that one-third of all business-related tasks can be automated with the help of AI tools like ChatGPT. This increase in automation also brings about an urgent need to reskill your workforce. More than half of the surveyed companies in Singapore identified AI and big data as the skill most prioritised for reskilling and upskilling in the next five years.

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Read more:

Top 3 Recruitment Trends for 2023

Tackling the Labour Shortage in Construction

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