SINGAPORE — Skills involving sustainability, software development, and health and wellness will be at the forefront of SkillsFuture course offerings that citizens can take up from 2023.

This is because such skills are not only in demand, but have also been found to be highly transferable across different jobs and industries, a report published on Tuesday (Nov 22) by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) has shown.

The government agency that is driving the national movement to promote a culture of lifelong learning is refreshing its course offerings from next year.

The second edition of the Skills Demand for the Future Economy Report aims to give insights on the jobs and skills that workers need to stay competitive, based on the roles that are likely to be in demand.

The report's findings are based on SSG's database of job types and listings, business, labour and market intelligence, as well as contributions from experts. 

Similar to the inaugural report last year, the report continues to spotlight three growth areas — digital economy, green economy and care economy — that are in tandem with Singapore's economic priorities in the coming years.

“These growth areas remain important as they heavily influence the emergence of new skills demand across many different industry sectors,” the agency said.

The latest report includes an analysis of skills associated with the increasing adoption of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies, which integrate automation and data exchange in sectors such as manufacturing.

SSG said that it has mapped out 60 "priority skills" associated with these technologies. 

“There is a fair degree of overlap with priority skills associated with digital and green economies, as digitalisation and sustainability are key themes for I4.0,” it added.

“Companies looking to implement I4.0 will need to upskill or reskill their workforce, as manufacturing processes become more digitalised, connected and sustainable.”

GREEN ECONOMY

The report found that many existing jobs will require green skills as companies across sectors adopt more environmentally sustainable practices and set sustainability targets for compliance and reporting, in tandem with nationwide efforts.

Environmental, sustainability and compliance-related skills are the most transferable across sectors and job roles.

Among the emerging domains with high demand growth are:

• Green infrastructure and mobility (demand growth of 194 per cent from 2018 to 2021)
• Energy, resource circularity and decarbonisation (129 per cent)
• Sustainable finance (1,550 per cent) 

The report highlighted the emerging area of sustainable finance, as the financial services sector is beginning to introduce green investments, loans and financial instruments to support companies tapping green economy opportunities.

Skills in urban farming, food technologies and novel food development are also a nascent trend, the report read.

This is in line with Singapore’s aim to safeguard food security by producing 30 per cent of its nutritional needs by 2030. 

DIGITAL ECONOMY

Riding on the post-Covid-19 wave, digital economy jobs and skills continue to see high demand. In particular, software development skills see the highest demand growth and high transferability. 

Other skills with high demand growth are:

• Solution architecture (108 per cent)
• Radio frequency engineering (166 per cent)
• Software testing (100 per cent) 

More job roles will require skills in e-commerce and digital marketing as well as artificial intelligence, data and analytics, the report found.

This is because Singapore’s growth in e-commerce sales is expected to reach S$19.6 billion by 2027, it noted.

CARE ECONOMY

To cater to the needs of an ageing population and workforce, there is an increasing need for preventive and community care, adult education, and workplace learning and development.

Skills in collaborating with stakeholders are among the fastest growing, while those in person-centred care, and teaching and learning domains have the highest transferability. 

Other skills with high demand growth are:

• Community partnership (200 per cent)
• Professional consultation (105 per cent)
• Family and caregiver engagement (100 per cent)

Demand for skills in the health and wellness domain has also risen significantly since 2019, the report found. 

Skills related to health, hygiene and nutrition for children, which are needed in job roles such as enrolled nurses and early intervention educator, have seen demand growth of 159 per cent.

NEED TO OFFER SUITABLE COURSES

Business management and human resource experts who spoke to TODAY said that more can be done to improve the availability of suitable programmes needed for people interested to make the switch, particularly for roles in the green economy. 

Professor Boh Wai Fong, deputy dean of Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University, said that there are some course offerings in this sector, but “we are not there yet in terms of adequate supply”. 

She added that these roles involve skill sets that are not widely known and that not many institutions here can provide the requisite training.

Ms Carmen Wee, chief executive officer of human resource advisory services firm Carmen Wee & Associates, said that the pace of developing and curating the courses would need to match the growth rate of the green economy sector, adding that the industry here has only a "few hundred" individuals in corporate roles. 

Turning to courses in the IT sector, experts said that some of these courses may not be suited for those without any background knowledge, unless they have existing skills or competencies that can help them tackle new IT knowledge. 

Associate Professor Guan Chong, deputy director from the Centre for Continuing and Professional Education at Singapore University of Social Sciences, said that bite-sized, just-in-time training coupled with workplace learning would work well for talents with highly “adjacent skills”. 

“For instance, if an employer can't find someone who knows natural language processing (a machine learning technique), he or she should consider hiring someone who knows Python (a popular programming language). Such a person is more likely to learn natural language processing faster than someone who doesn't,” he added.

Agreeing, Associate Professor Song Zhaoli from the department of management and organisation in the National University of Singapore Business School said that several of these professional jobs require a longer period of acquiring special knowledge and skill.

It would be unrealistic for instance, to expect that someone with zero background to complete a crash course on Python with SkillsFuture and perform the role of a data analyst. 

“Such a role most likely requires at least a bachelor’s degree and preferably a post-graduate degree in relevant fields,” he said. 

Yet, for other roles within the IT sector such as a talent analyst, Assoc Prof Song said that it is possible for someone such as an experienced human resource professional with no IT background to take a Python crash course and become work-ready.

“For senior jobseekers, it is important to leverage their own past work experience and then a relatively short SkillsFuture course can provide them with new job perspectives,” he added.