Singapore’s labour market continues to exhibit signs of resilience and dynamism, with high demand for talent in sectors such as technology, education, and finance. According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), as of December 2024, there were 164 job vacancies for every 100 job seekers.
However, behind the headline figures lies a more complex picture about who is actually benefiting from the surge in employment.
Between 2022 and 2024, total employment in Singapore grew by 351,100. Of this increase, an overwhelming 91.3%, or 320,800 jobs, went to non-residents—primarily foreign workers.
Only 30,300 of the new jobs went to residents—a category that includes both Singapore citizens and permanent residents (PRs), though MOM does not reveal how many went specifically to citizens.
This distribution raises difficult but necessary questions about the inclusiveness of Singapore’s economic recovery and labour market policies.
At first glance, the tight labour market should be a boon for Singaporeans, with strong demand in well-paying PMET (professional, managerial, executive and technician) roles.
MOM’s latest Job Vacancies Report, released on 28 March, revealed that PMET vacancies now make up 57.7% of all open roles, up from 43.4% in 2014.
Teaching and training professionals were the most in-demand group in 2024, followed closely by software developers and marketing executives. Salaries in these fields are strong, with developers earning between S$6,000 to S$12,000 monthly.
But while demand for skills is clearly high, the distribution of employment growth suggests many of these jobs are not going to locals.
The question then arises: How much of the 30,300 resident employment growth actually went to Singapore citizens, and how much to PRs?
MOM does not disaggregate this figure in its public release. However, we do know that 103,984 new PRs were granted between 2022 and 2024.
It is not clear how many of these were conversions from the non-resident pool already employed here, but the implication is that it is possible that some portion of the resident job gains may reflect foreign workers who later attained PR status, rather than direct employment gains for citizens.
This leads to a broader concern: while the labour market is growing, is it growing in a way that directly improves employment outcomes for Singapore citizens?
Manpower Minister Tan See Leng, during a visit to KPMG on 28 March, emphasised the “complementarity” between local and foreign PMETs.
He noted that employment rose in parallel for both groups in growth sectors like information and communications and financial services.
But the data also reveals that in the last 10 years, resident PMET employment in these sectors grew by 227,500, while the number of Employment Pass (EP) and S Pass holders rose by 22,100.
The gap between numbers might suggest Singaporeans are benefiting in raw terms, yet the recent three-year trend tells a different story.
While resident PMET employment has grown over the past decade, the recent three-year trend shows that non-residents accounted for the vast majority of new employment.
To be fair, MOM has made strides in improving job matching. The proportion of vacancies unfilled for over six months has fallen from 41.4% in 2014 to 19.4% in 2024, thanks to technology adoption, skills training, and the use of foreign manpower to plug persistent shortages.
There’s also a shift in hiring philosophy, with employers increasingly open to candidates without specific academic credentials. In 2024, 70.3% of PMET vacancies did not list academic qualifications as a primary consideration, up from 42% in 2017.
Nonetheless, none of this negates the concern that the benefits of job growth—particularly in a tight labour market—should be distributed more evenly and transparently.
The lack of granularity in public data makes it hard for citizens to assess if their interests are being protected or if the system increasingly leans on importing labour to meet economic targets.
Singapore’s model has long valued openness, pragmatism, and meritocracy. But these values must be consistently balanced with policies that also ensure local workers, especially Singaporeans, are not disadvantaged or bypassed.
When more than 9 out of 10 new jobs go to non-residents over a three-year period, it’s reasonable for the public to ask whether the country’s workforce strategies are achieving the right balance.
With sectors like retail and food services seeing declining momentum, and higher-value industries booming, the importance of building up a sustainable local talent pool becomes even more urgent.
Upskilling efforts, job redesign, and targeted support must be intensified not only to match skills to job vacancies, but to ensure that citizens are genuinely first in line for the opportunities their economy creates.
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