PMET share of Singapore’s job vacancies rises in 2022; tech demand remains high

IN 2022, a rising share of Singapore’s record job vacancies came from professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) latest Job Vacancies report on Thursday (Mar 30) showed.

The share of PMET vacancies rose to 56 per cent, from 53 per cent in 2021 – though this was still shy of the pre-pandemic 2019 figure of 58.4 per cent.

In a media briefing on the report, MOM director of manpower research and statistics Ang Boon Heng said the share of PMET vacancies has trended upwards over the years, and is expected to continue rising, due to structural trends such as digital transformation.

As earlier reported in MOM’s Labour Market Report, the number of job vacancies in Singapore eased for the third straight quarter to 104,500 in December, though this was still more than twice the pre-pandemic level of 51,100 in December 2019.

Barring Singapore slipping into a recession, job vacancies are likely to remain at higher-than-pre-pandemic levels for the foreseeable future, said CIMB economist Song Seng Wun.

With the services sector still catching up with its pre-pandemic losses, vacancies are expected to remain high due to a higher demand for labour in the sector. Singapore is also competing with others in the region for talent and workers, added Song.

OCBC chief economist Selena Ling noted that the high number of vacancies in roles such as software development and application managers are due to the ongoing digitalisation shift. “But for some of the cited PMET vacancies, there could be some skills mismatch, such as need for specialised knowledge and/or experience,” she added.

Apart from quarterly statistics, the annual release also gave details on the nature of vacancies for the full year, based on a survey in September.

The rise in PMET vacancies in 2022 reflects manpower demand for skilled workers in growth sectors such as information and communications (I&C); financial and insurance services; professional services; and health and social services, said MOM.

Roles in the technology sector remain highly sought after, as ongoing digitalisation trends have led to a “sustained demand for technological skills”, the ministry said in the report.

Employers were also more willing to offer higher salaries for these positions, due to the shortage of such specialised skills, Ang noted.

Managers and executives in business development and sales, as well as healthcare professionals, also remain in demand.

While the share of non-PMET roles dipped in 2022, the number of these vacancies increased as employers sought to backfill positions, especially in the manufacturing and construction sectors.

With Covid-19 measures and border restrictions being eased in April 2022, “employers were actively looking to fill positions left vacant during the pandemic”, said MOM. Of the job openings in 2022, 61 per cent were for replacements rather than newly created positions, up from 56 per cent in 2021.

Yet, although the share of new roles fell, the number of such openings still rose, as businesses continued to expand or restructure.

Similar to 2021, I&C was the sector where new roles formed the largest share of vacancies, at 69 per cent.

Asked whether the recent tech layoffs suggest a growing mismatch between jobs and skills, Ang replied that the layoffs were not as widespread as anticipated, and the I&C sector still sees “very high” employment growth.

“This shows that the residents who are retrenched (in the I&C sector) are still able to get employed in the same sector,” said Ang.

Additionally, the demand for tech skills is not just coming from the I&C sector, but other sectors as well, he said: “We cannot just concentrate on the I&C sector and say that people are being retrenched and hence there is a big issue.”

Border reopenings also made it easier to fill vacancies in 2022, with 27 per cent of vacancies remaining unfilled for six months or more, down from 35 per cent in 2021.

This decline was observed for both PMET and non-PMET roles, but non-PMET vacancies saw a sharper decline as employers were able to hire foreign workers to backfill these positions.

“The tight labour market has also spurred employers to raise wages... and this has actually helped to increase the job take-up rate,” said Ang.

However, the decline was uneven across sectors. Some sectors continued to see a high share of vacancies staying unfilled for at least six months, such as transportation and storage (44 per cent), as well as accommodation and food services (38 per cent).

For the PMET roles that were hard to fill, employers cited reasons such as unattractive pay, lack of specialised skills and lack of necessary work experience, particularly for positions that require specialised and technical knowledge.

As for non-PMET positions which were hard to fill, employers cited reasons such as the physically strenuous nature of the job, and a non-conducive work environment.

Overall, 74 per cent of job vacancies no longer look at academic qualifications as the main determinant in hiring. MOM noted that this was up from 73 per cent in 2021 and 67 per cent in 2017, “largely reflecting the trend among PMET jobs”.

For such roles, the key considerations were instead the skills and work attitude of the applicant.