18,000 jobs, skills training programmes in ICT sector available to Singaporeans: S Iswaran

[SINGAPORE] About 18,000 jobs and skills training opportunities in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector are currently available to Singaporeans across the digital economy.

The jobs include positions as software engineers, system analysts, data scientists and cyber security specialists.

In addition, in the next 12 months, the Government will be focused on creating 1,800 more job opportunities for Singaporeans in the sector.This was revealed by Minister for Communications and Information S Iswaran on Wednesday (Aug 26) during a visit to Becton Dickinson's Asia-Pacific headquarters in Jurong East.

During a media conference that was also attended by Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing and Manpower Minister Josephine Teo, Mr Iswaran said long-term career prospects in ICT - which cuts across all sectors of the economy - remain strong.

Mr Iswaran said there are opportunities for workers in the sector. "(In) terms of career prospects, and also in terms of its wage prospects - its median wages are higher than the national median wage. I think the long-term prospects remain strong," he added.

According to Ministry of Manpower statistics released this year, the median gross salary for information and communications jobs is S$6,000 - above the national median of S$4,600.

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Mr Iswaran noted that technology and digitalisation provide opportunities for jobs to be created, citing the example of how multinational medical technology company Becton Dickinson's headquarters in Singapore is used to manage the cyber security of its products in the region, he said.

To leverage these opportunities, the government has been working with the private sector to create jobs, said Mr Iswaran.For instance, last month, technology giant Google launched a new jobs and skills training initiative for 3,000 local job seekers, together with the Economic Development Board, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and SkillsFuture Singapore.

Apart from the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package that was announced in this year's Budget, in the last four years since it was announced, IMDA's TechSkills Accelerator programme has placed about 6,600 Singaporeans in "good tech jobs", he added.

"This is something that has to be done in a very collaborative way. It is not something that is just about the government or government agencies working on it," he said.

THE STRAITS TIMES