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On the surface, Singapore’s employment situation remains strong, with low unemployment of around 3% for both residents and citizens according to MOM, and plenty of vacancies (1.64 openings for every unemployed individual).
However, it’s only natural that it isn’t quite the same for every single occupation. Your experience is likely to be vastly different to somebody else’s depending on the sector, age, education or skill set.
Demand for talent fluctuates depending on the business and even within entire industries, as tech layoffs have proven, happening amidst the general shortage of IT personnel (at least in Singapore).
Fortunately, both public and private organisations provide us regular updates on the labour market situation, so we can figure out what to expect.
This time it’s another release from one of the largest online job listing sites, Indeed, which last month provided the most recent data showing the jobs surging and declining in popularity in the preceding three months—based, of course, on the number of offers on their portal.
Engineers rejoice
Among the best performing jobs between March and June, are several engineering professions—civil, mechanical and industrial engineering—two of which recorded the highest gains in the number of listings for the period.
Jobs postings with the highest demand growth
| Rank (best) | Occupation group | % change in job postings since Feb. 28, 2025 |
| 1 | Civil engineering | +18.8% |
| 2 | Mechanical engineering | +14.0% |
| 3 | Childcare | +13.0% |
| 4 | Sports | +12.1% |
| 5 | Industrial engineering | +6.5% |
| 6 | Data analytics | +5.6% |
| 7 | Architecture | +3.0% |
| 8 | Installation & maintenance | +2.6% |
| 9 | Software development | +0.9% |
Seven of the nine professions that have seen the highest demand growth are quite technical in nature, separated only by childcare and sports. Notably, the demand for jobs in sports is among the highest overall, at three times its pre-pandemic demand (and, as we can see, growing).
The worst performers, however, are more of a mixed bag. This group features several occupations in healthcare or jobs tangential to it.
Jobs postings with the highest demand drops
| Rank (worst) | Occupation group | % change in job postings since Feb. 28, 2025 |
| 1 | Pharmacy | -45.4% |
| 2 | Security & public safety | -32.7% |
| 3 | Beauty & wellness | -21.8% |
| 4 | Physicians & surgeons | -19.0% |
| 5 | Veterinary | -19.0% |
| 6 | Hospitality & tourism | -19.0% |
| 7 | Medical technician | -18.4% |
| 8 | Medical information | -18.3% |
| 9 | Scientific research & development | -17.5% |
| 10 | Food preparation & service | -16.0% |
However, according to Indeed some of them—like the pharmacy and veterinary categories—still maintain demand levels twice as high than those reported in 2020. In other words, even if they may be declining in recent months, it’s from considerably elevated levels.
In fact, demand for workers still remains strong for virtually all professions, with 96% of them posting higher figures than in February of 2020—though after many vacancies have been filled in the past three years, only one in 10 reports hiring levels more than twice as high as five years ago.
We’re still in the employee market
On the face of it, it might seem like the number of opportunities is shrinking, but it’s only due to the fact that the economy has previously been returning to its normal state during the post-COVID 19 revival. Now, when it has reached full employment, the number of openings has gone down—in line with the number of unemployed.
The good news is that nearly everybody is still hiring above 2020 levels, suggesting that we’re very much in an optimistic, growth economy, despite possible disruptions caused by Trump’s tariffs.
Other sources seem to support that, with Manpower Group showing that 83% of employers continue to report talent shortages:
This also means that the advantage remains on the employees’ side, as those in the most starved industries can shop around to seek the best conditions in terms of pay and work-life balance.
It’s a good time to secure those benefits now, in case disruptions come in the years ahead and it becomes harder to score a great deal.
- Read other articles we’ve written on Singapore’s current affairs here.
Featured Image Credit: Namcha ph/ Unsplash
