Skills mismatches continue to be the most prevalent form of mismatch according to a survey from the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), in partnership with NTUC LearningHub.

The survey found that 63% of business leaders in Singapore say skills mismatches are the most prevalent form of mismatch. This is in comparison to experience mismatch (18%), wages mismatch (17%), and expectations mismatch (2%).

Business leaders also said that workers with skills gaps are not the top priority for training (15%), as compared to workers with high potential (45%).

The research surveyed a total of 564 business leaders across industries in Singapore, such as manufacturing, information and communications, financial and insurance services, wholesale and retail trade, and professional services.

In further upskilling high potential workers, 67% of employers claim that they offer talent development programmes in the form of job rotations (65%), cross-department collaborations (60%), and secondments to other departments or companies (47%). However, 26% of business leaders consider more than 40% of their employees as "high-potential". This implies that a significant portion of workers lose out on upskilling, as they are less prioritised to receive training.

Patrick Tay, Assistant Secretary-General, NTUC and Director, NTUC Strategy, said, “To build resilience, companies must ensure that each and every one in their workforce is continuously ready for what is next. By raising the competency of the entire workforce, businesses enable themselves to build new capabilities, and remain relevant.”

NTUC LHUB Chairman, Eugene Wong, added, "When companies upskill their existing workforce, they are not only realising business value, but also improving engagement and retention of employees. Investing in employees also gives them the confidence to apply newly gained skills and knowledge to value-add to the organisation.”