Digital economy contributed 17.3% to Singapore’s GDP, over 200,000 tech jobs in 2022

SINGAPORE: According to new data released on Friday( Oct 6 ), Singapore’s digital economy will account for more than 200 000 tech jobs and 17.3 % economic growth in 2022.

The data were released in a report by the Infocomm Media Development Authority( IMDA ) and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and serve as the first official estimate of Singapore’s digital economy.

According to a variety of metrics, the record demonstrates that Singapore’s digital economy grew over the five-year period from 2017 to 2022.

In nominal terms, the digital economy’s contribution to the growth of the gross domestic product increased from 13 % to 17.3 %, almost doubling from S$ 58 billion( US$ 42 billion ) to S$ 106 billion.

According to a media release from IMDA, this compares” favorably” to other comparable open economies like Estonia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Since 2017, the digital economy has expanded at a compound annual growth rate of 12.9 %, outpacing the overall economy.

Over the course of the five years, the number of tech jobs even increased from about 155, 500 to 201, 100. As a result, the proportion of tech professionals employed increased from 4.2 % to 5.2 %.

Local workers benefit from the high need for technical employees, according to IMDA. Singaporeans and continuous people hold more than 70 % of tech work, and they command competitive pay.

With the exception of bonuses and contributions from the employer Central Provident Fund ( CPF ), tech professionals make a median monthly salary of S$ 7, 376. This is higher than S$ 5,512 from 2017.

It is considerably higher than the S$ 4,500 average native median monthly income, excluding company CPF efforts. That amount went up from S$ 3, 749 in 2017.

The majority of tech jobs with major growth are in software and application tasks, such as those of software developers and software engineers.

However, there are also more opportunities for administration, product development, networking equipment, and cloud computing.

According to the report, tech professionals will likely continue to be in demand as the economy digitizes, despite the tech layoffs in 2022 – 2023 that affected Singapore and other tech hubs around the world.