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 artificial intelligence boom ramped up hiring demand for workers in engineering and technology-related roles.

This figure, 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 PMET (professionals, managers, executives and technicians) workers in 2025.

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

Global human resources firm Deel noted in its 2025 state of global hiring report that Singapore firms are especially interested in hiring AI trainers, with the Republic standing out as the top employer of AI trainers compared with larger markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

Ms Karen Ng, Deel’s regional head of expansion for enterprises in North and South Asia, said the emergence of AI trainers as a specialised profession and the growth of strategic roles such as product leaders are important signals.

“AI trainers embed human judgment into how models learn and improve, while product managers sit at the intersection of customer insight, technology and growth.

“This is the kind of specialised talent that companies are increasingly hiring across borders to stay competitive,” said Ms Ng.

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 Singaporean and permanent resident PMETs rose to 10.1 per 1,000 employees – the highest recorded since 2021. The highest rate of retrenchment is 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.

Ms Yang Li, a partner and Asia-Pacific immigration leader at global mobility firm Vialto Partners, said the higher retrenchment rates for PMETs are compounded by role redesign as organisations adopt AI and digital tools.

“Some roles are displaced even as new ones emerge. Taken together, this is less about broad-based weakening and more about businesses and workers adapting to a more complex and demanding operating environment,” she said.

There are higher expectations for workers to use 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 statement accompanying the report on March 20.

Generative AI instructor Tan Kwan Hong of training provider Vertical Institute said a challenge is that many positions today do not “neatly fit” into existing job titles, which can make it harder for younger candidates to identify where they belong or how to position themselves.

“Employers today are no longer impressed by tool familiarity alone. Candidates who stand out are not necessarily the most technical, but those who can demonstrate how they use AI to think better, work faster and produce higher-quality outcomes.”

The growing demand for AI skills comes amid a rising preference among employers to hire based on skills, ahead of qualifications.

The ministry noted that 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 indicate 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 to find for some young job seekers, 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 accounted for 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, job seekers have increasingly taken less time 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 a longer time to fill because of the lack of specialised training and relevant experience needed, with the proportion of long-duration vacancies ticking 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, they persisted for 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,” the report noted.

MOM also highlighted that jobs that can be done remotely are becoming more common, with the proportion of vacancies for roles that can be performed remotely increasing from 14.4 per cent in 2024 to 22.7 per cent in 2025.

But the share of vacancies where employers intended to hire from overseas 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 those who have to take on caregiving roles at home.

Popular jobs

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

Software, web and multimedia developers were third, after coming in second in 2024 and topping the list of top PMET vacancies in 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 spots in the top five after ranking 14th and 20th respectively in 2024.

An MOM spokesperson said semiconductor engineers in the manufacturing sector accounted for the largest share of electronics engineers, partially driven by the demand for AI-related products.

Ms Julia Ng, the Singapore Business Federation’s chief workforce development officer, said the growing demand for policy and planning managers reflects a more complex and volatile operating environment.

“Planning has become a core operational capability rather than a back-office function, with direct impact on risk management, investment sequencing and workforce strategy,” she said.

For non-PMET roles, construction workers were most in demand, supported by an increase in both public-sector and private-sector construction works. Similar to 2024, waiters, cleaners, shop sales assistants, receptionists and construction workers continued to take 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 the main deterrents.

Geopolitical volatility

DBS Bank senior economist Chua Han Teng noted that the escalation of the Iran-centred Middle East conflict and renewed US trade policy uncertainty will likely weigh on business sentiment, which could dampen hiring and wage momentum.

“Prolonged rising cost pressures are likely to squeeze profit margins if the Middle East conflict persists, which could prompt a more prudent approach to manpower planning,” he said.

Mr Ben Neumann, the Asia-Pacific lead for remote work and Singapore team leader at Vialto, said the conflict has seen many clients evacuating their employees to other countries, including Singapore.

In addition to immigration considerations linked to the right to work, he said, there are tax, regulatory, payroll and social security considerations that are likely to result in additional costs to companies.

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said on social media that his ministry is monitoring the global situation closely, as the evolving conflict in the Middle East will have resulting pressures on electricity prices and business costs.

While this will have knock-on effects on economies around the world including Singapore, the ministry is prepared to “act early where needed” to ensure that the labour market remains resilient, he added.