SINGAPORE — Up to 2,100 new jobs are expected to be created for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) in Singapore’s electronics manufacturing sector by 2020, said Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S Iswaran on Wednesday (Sept 20).

Speaking at the official launch of JTC nanoSpace @ Tampines, Mr Iswaran unveiled the Industry Transformation Map (ITM) for the sector. Within the next three years, it is expected to have a manufacturing value-add of S$22.2 billion, he said.

The electronics industry is a key sector of growth for the nation’s economy, said Mr Iswaran.

On Monday, latest official data showed that non-oil domestic exports surged 17 per cent year-on-year last month, buoyed by a 21.7 per cent jump in shipments of electronics products.

Electronics manufacturing accounted for 4.4 per cent of Singapore’s economy last year, employing 70,000 employees and generating S$90 billion in manufacturing output.

The key thrust of the electronics ITM is to deepen capabilities in the sector and to build “smart factories of the future” that will transform the industry, he added.

JTC nanoSpace will support the growth of semiconductor manufacturing operations as part of the drive to grow the country’s electronics industry.

Economists said Singapore is well on its way in terms of moving towards higher value-added services rather than pure production. However, the increase of more than 2,000 jobs from its current base of 70,000 workers represents a 3 per cent increase over three years, effectively 1 per cent a year to 2020, said Mr Francis Tan, economist at United Overseas Bank.

He nonetheless welcomed the Government’s announcement, as “it certainly shows that we are pushing ahead for the development in this industry that single-handedly pulled up overall manufacturing performance in the past one-and-a-half years”.

Going ahead, mobile devices will continue to drive growth in the sector.

“At the same time, we are seeing the emergence of exciting new application areas, such as autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and healthcare, which rely heavily on electronics. Even the smart factories of the future will need more sensors and robots,” said Mr Iswaran.

He said the Government will strengthen the innovation ecosystem to better support companies in developing new capabilities and to diversify into new growth opportunities.

Skills development to gear up the electronics industry for long-term growth is important, especially in the areas of robotics and automation, artificial intelligence and data analytics, said Mr Iswaran.

Two new professional conversion programmes (PCPs) will be rolled out to train electronics engineers and assistant engineers. This is in addition to four PCPs launched last year to reskill PMETs for the wafer fabrication and assembly and test sectors, he said.

Cimb Private Banking economist Song Seng Wun said: “As the Government helps PMETs find jobs, the idea is also to ride the growth sectors, like electronics, to move past the slow-growth phase.”