Through upgrading skills, capabilities, R&D, innovation and internationalisation, Singapore can expand the pool of skilled workers and sustainable and vibrant local businesses.
The labour market remains tight at this juncture. The overall unemployment rate improved to 2.0 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022, overtaking the pre-pandemic 2019 average of 2.2 per cent. With a record 231,700 more workers employed last year, this has also surpassed pre-pandemic 2019 levels, fuelled partly by foreign workers in the construction sector.
However, the Ministry of Manpower tips hiring sentiments to soften but generally remain positive, as 64.6 per cent of firms surveyed in December 2022 still plan to hire in the next three months.
A Singapore Business Federation survey saw companies citing wages as their top cost challenge. Their manpower challenges included rising manpower costs, attracting and retaining younger workers, new foreign manpower policies raising costs and a limited pool of local high-skilled labour. Still, 40 per cent of respondents planned to raise salaries.
UPSKILLING AND INNOVATION
But local workers cannot be complacent and need to press on with upskilling.