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Two days ago Ministry of Manpower released its quarterly labour market report, providing detailed statistics of the situation in the middle of 2024. Within it hides what surely is of interest to most of us—a breakdown of available vacancies by industry, showing where the shortages of talent are most acute.
Perhaps even more importantly, MOM separates it further between PMET jobs, Clerical & Service workers, as well as Production/Transport operators, and Cleaners & Labourers.
And since most of the lower-end jobs tend to be filled by foreign workers, let’s focus on the vacancies in the upper category of Professionals, Managers, Executives & Technicians.
45,300, or more more than half of recorded 82,600 vacancies, as of June 2024, belonged to that category, showing that there’s no dearth of opportunities in good positions in Singapore.
Vast majority of them is in Services, followed by a few thousand in Manufacturing and Construction sectors.
| Number of vacancies | Vacancy rate | |
| Services | 38,700 | 3.9% |
| Manufacturing | 4,200 | 2.4% |
| Construction | 2,300 | 2.9% |
Government is hiring
When we increase the granularity of the data, we can look at specific industries within each sector. As it turns out, the most willing employer in Singapore is the local government, looking for around 9,000 people to add to administration and education (teachers take note).
It is followed by IT, Finance, Healthcare and Law, with these Top 5 accounting for over 26,000 vacancies, or close to 60 per cent of all PMET positions available.
| Number of vacancies | Vacancy rate | |
| Public Administration & Education | 9,000 | 5.1% |
| IT & Other Information Services | 5,500 | 6% |
| Financial Services | 4,400 | 3% |
| Health & Social Services | 4,200 | 4% |
| Legal, Accounting & Management Services | 3,200 | 4.2% |
| Construction | 2,300 | 2.9% |
| Wholesale Trade | 2,200 | 2.4% |
| Manufacturing of Electronic, Computer & Optical Products | 1,400 | 2.9% |
| Architectural & Engineering Services | 1,200 | 3.4% |
| Other Professional Services | 1000 | 4.3% |
| Other Administrative & Support Services | 900 | 3.7% |
| Manufacturing of Food & Beverage Services | 800 | 2.6% |
| Telecommunications, Broadcasting & Publishing | 800 | 3.7% |
| Insurance Services | 800 | 3.4% |
| Real Estate Services | 800 | 3.5% |
| Other Community, Social & Personal Services | 800 | 4.4% |
| Manufacturing of Fabricated Metal Products, Machinery & Equipment | 700 | 2% |
| Manufacturing of Transport Equipment | 700 | 2.1% |
| Retail Trade | 700 | 2.7% |
| Manufacturing of Petroleum, Chemical & Pharmaceutical Products | 600 | 2.2% |
| Accommodation | 600 | 6% |
| Water Transport & Supporting Services | 500 | 3.1% |
| Air Transport & Supporting Services | 400 | 3.7% |
| Manufacturing of Paper / Rubber / Plastic Products & Printing | 300 | 3.9% |
| Other Manufacturing Industries | 300 | 2.2% |
| Other Transportation & Storage Services | 300 | 1.4% |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | 300 | 2.9% |
| Food, Beverages & Tobacco | 200 | 1.9% |
| Land Transport & Supporting Services | 200 | 3.4% |
| Security & Investigation | 100 | 1.2% |
| Cleaning & Landscaping | 100 | 2.2% |
| OTHERS | 200 | 2.2% |
Industries with the largest gaps
Industries with the biggest talent gaps relative to the total number of jobs available are identified by their vacancy rate (with the average for all PMET professions being 3.6 per cent).
In the worst affected ones, between one in 16 to one in 25 jobs are vacant, and those are:
- IT & Other Information Services: 6 per cent
- Accommodation: 6 per cent
- Public Administration & Education: 5 per cent
- Other Community, Social & Personal Services: 4.4 per cent
- Other Professional Services: 4.3 per cent
- Legal, Accounting & Management Services 4.2 per cent
- Health & Social Services: 4.0 percent
The best news, perhaps, is the fact that the available openings require a multitude of different skills, providing a good diversity of options for everybody, from modern technical professions, through numerous services in social services & personal interaction (like accommodation), to legal, healthcare, administration and teaching.
As you can see, Singapore doesn’t have a shortage of any particular skill or talent, but rather keeps growing in all directions, leaving few people with reasons to complain about lack of opportunities.
