For employers in Singapore who are hiring or intending to hire new talent, four in five (78%) of them are facing a challenge in filling job roles due to a lack of talent with relevant skillsets. This is according to findings from NTUC (National Trades Union Congress) LearningHub's  Emerging Jobs and Skills Report.

The report surveyed 650 working professionals from Singapore in December 2021. The respondents comprised both employers and employees from the six main industry clusters in Singapore, with the aim to uncover a dual perspective about the current job market, emerging jobs and skills, as well as the training landscape. 

Findings from the report showed that more employers (65%) look to augment their workforce, compared to a year ago (56%) with businesses looking to 2022 with optimism. However, the report also found that one in ten employees (10%) are actively looking for a new job. Most employees (60%) are open but not actively looking for a new job, whereas 30% of employees are not looking and would remain in their current roles. 

The report showed that industry clusters facing a greater talent crunch are modern services (87%), manufacturing (83%) and essential domestic services (80%). These include roles in information and communications technology (ICT) and media, energy and chemicals, and healthcare respectively. 

NTUC’s report also found that employees working in essential domestic services are the least likely to actively look for new employment (6% are actively looking), followed by manufacturing (7%) and modern services (10%).

When asked about the reasons for not actively job searching, the top three reasons given by employees are 'being satisfied with the current role' (60%), 'satisfaction with the current pay' (33%), and 'current company provides job security' (24%). 

NTUC LearningHub's Anthony Chew, Director of ICT, said, "To plug the skills chasm, companies could benefit from upskilling both existing and new employees to boost their workforce competencies and meet business objectives.”