Singaporeans on track to fill two third white collar jobs by 2030
SINGAPORE: About four years ago, Singapore’s new population White Paper projected that by 2030 two thirds of Singaporeans will hold white-collar jobs - professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMET).
It appears that the White Paper projection is on track to achieve the 2030 target.
Malaysia too could emulate Singapore in creating more PMET jobs back home by matching the skills and education profile of its workforce with job openings.
Hence, these are some of the findings in the just released “Job Vacancies 2016” report by the Manpower Research and Statistics Department under the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
The rise in the opportunities in the PMET segment, it said, is expected to continue as the island state’s economy restructures in tandem with the improving skills and education profile of the workforce.
The key findings from the report was nearly half of all vacancies as at Sept 30, 2016 were for PMETs.
The steady increase in PMET share of job openings from 39 per cent (or 24,300) in 2013 to 48 per cent (or 25,800) in 2016 reflected the restructuring of the economy and workforce.
The increase in PMET vacancies was mainly from financial and insurance services, professional services, and information and communications.
The top PMET job openings in 2016 include teaching and training professionals; management executives; software, web and multimedia developers; registered nurses and enrolled/ assistant nurses.
The proportion of vacancies unfilled for at least six months in 2016 (36 per cent) declined from 2015 (39 per cent) and 2014 (41 per cent).
About two in every 10 PMET openings remained unfilled for at least six months.
Common PMET occupations which were harder to fill include software, web and multimedia developers, registered nurses and enrolled/assistant nurses.
The lack of necessary work experience remained the main reason in the difficulties in filling up the PMET openings.
Vacancies were available to jobseekers of all educational levels, with more at both ends of the education spectrum.
About one in four of the vacancies required university degree qualifications (13,090).
This was followed closely by openings which required no/ some formal education such as primary and below (12,880).
There were also openings for secondary (8,320), and diploma and professional qualifications (9,090).
TheJobVacancySurveycovered all private sector establishments each with at least 25 employees and the public sector comprising government ministries, organs of state and statutory boards.
A total of 15,100 establishments employing two million employees responded to the survey, yielding a response rate of 89.1 per cent.
The reference period for the survey was Sept 30, 2016.
Looking ahead, MOM said one key priority was to maximise matching between jobseekers and job vacancies.
The Government has ramped up SkillsFuture, and Adapt and Grow initiatives.
It will continue to strengthen employment and employability support for Singaporeans.
Singaporeans are strongly encouraged to tap on these programmes to seize new job opportunities and advance in their careers.
Employers should also review their requirements for work experience so as to widen their pool of prospective candidates.
This will provide more opportunities for young job entrants and mid-career PMETs to build up their domain knowledge and experience on the job. — Bernama