Strong hiring demand for engineers, tech specialists in S’pore as newly created roles climb in 2025

SINGAPORE - Newly created jobs in Singapore made up nearly half – or 49.3 per cent – of all vacancies in 2025, as the global AI boom ramped up hiring demand for workers in engineering and technology-related roles.

This figure, which went up from 45.7 per cent in 2024, also suggested that labour demand continued to be supported by business expansion rather than replacement hiring alone.

Sectors such as information and communications, professional services, and financial and insurance services recorded shares of newly created vacancies above the overall average, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in its annual job vacancies report.

Similar to 2024, teaching and training professionals remained the most in-demand professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMET) workers in 2025.

Among the most sought-after jobs are professionals in software, web, multimedia; as well as game developers. Systems analysts, data scientists, and applications and systems programmers also ranked highly.

Overall, there were 158 vacancies for every 100 job seekers in December 2025, down from 164 in December 2024. 

The number of vacancies for PMET workers rose to 38,200 in 2025, up from 35,400 in 2024.

At the same time, the number of non-PMET vacancies increased from 26,000 in 2024 to 29,600 in 2025, driven by growth in the construction sector.

In 2025, the rate of retrenchment among Singaporeans and permanent resident PMETs rose to 10.1 per 1,000 employees - the highest recorded since 2021. The highest rate of retrenchment was 10.5 in 2020.

This reflects PMET workers’ greater exposure to outward-oriented sectors where restructuring has intensified, MOM noted. Sectors with higher retrenchment numbers include financial services, information and communications and professional services.

There are higher expectations for workers to use artificial intelligence (AI) enabled systems, as software development and data analytics skills are commonly required for in-demand professions in finance and engineering.

“These jobs, which involve tasks with high AI potential, will require workers to develop fluency in using AI-enabled tools,” said MOM in a press release accompanying the report on March 20.

The growing demand for AI skills comes amidst growing preference among employers to hire based on skills over qualifications.

The ministry noted employers are increasingly looking beyond academic qualifications, citing better outcomes like faster hiring and improved employee performance. Close to 80 per cent of vacancies do not place academic qualifications as the main criterion, said the ministry. This was a further increase from 78.8 per cent in 2024.

For younger Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 30 and below, the unemployment rate went up slightly from 5.6 per cent in September 2025 to 5.8 per cent in December 2025, a figure last seen in March 2024.

While this suggests that suitable job matches are taking longer for some young jobseekers, employers are open to hiring those with limited to moderate prior experience.

The report showed that overall, 31.5 per cent of vacancies were for jobs requiring “no prior experience”. Meanwhile, 20.2 per cent required one year of working experience and the rest required more than two years of experience.

This also reflects the “sizeable share of vacancies” that continued to be open to fresh graduates and new entrants, MOM said. There were 32,500 entry-level vacancies in December 2025, down from 34,600 the previous year.

The health and social services sector made up 54.4 per cent of entry-level PMET job openings, including those in nursing, social work and pre-primary school education.

The professional services sector also recorded above-average shares of entry-level job vacancies, which included roles in supporting operational functions such as auditing and IT support.

Overall, jobseekers can increasingly reduce the time taken to find jobs, as the proportion of job vacancies left unfilled for at least six months has fallen over the past decade, from 39 per cent in 2015 to 17.1 per cent in 2025.

This is because non-PMET vacancies such as drivers, cooks and waiters tend to be filled more quickly.

However, some PMET jobs roles required longer time to fill because of the lack of specialised training and relevant experienced needed, as the proportion of long-duration vacancies ticked up from 14.4 per cent in 2024 to 16 per cent in 2025 after three years of improvement.

While hiring difficulties have eased overall, it persisted in specialised roles such as data scientists, teaching and training professionals, and civil engineers.

“While challenges persist in filling some specialised roles, the overall reduction in vacancies unfilled for extended periods suggests improved matching between job requirements and available workers,” it noted.

MOM also highlighted that jobs that can be done remotely are becoming more common, with the proportion of vacancies that can be performed remotely increasing from 14.1 per cent in 2024 to 22.7 per cent in 2025.

But the share of vacancies where employers intended to hire from overseas has dropped from 23 per cent in 2024 to 16.5 per cent in 2025, reflecting bosses’ preference to hire local talent.

This points to a “gradual shift in how some roles can be organised”, said the ministry, potentially supporting greater labour force participation among employees who benefit from flexible work arrangements such as caregivers.

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Commercial and marketing sales executives took the second spot - after teaching and training professionals - as the most in-demand PMET workers in 2025.

Software, web and multimedia developers came in third, after coming in second in 2024 and topping the list of top PMET vacancies in the previous years. They continued to command the highest wages, with their monthly salaries ranging from $7,000 to $10,000.  

Other sought-after workers include policy and planning managers, and electronics engineers, both of which took up spots in the top five after ranking 14th and 20th respectively in 2024.

An MOM spokesperson said the largest share of electronics engineers was semiconductor engineers in the manufacturing sector, which were partially driven by AI-related products.

For non-PMET roles, construction workers were highest in demand, supported by an increase in both public sector and private sector construction works. Similar to 2024, waiters, cleaners, shop sales assistants and receptionists and construction workers continue to take up the top five spots.

These roles were also among the hardest to fill, with many citing unfavourable work schedules, unattractive pay and physically strenuous work as main deterrents.