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How workers and firms can hedge bets and widen opportunities

Just like you can’t rely on a single vitamin for your health needs, you can’t bank on just one pathway in the job market.

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Both workers and employers should diversify pathways to increase their odds of finding new opportunities and new talent, respectively.

Both workers and employers should diversify pathways to increase their odds of finding new opportunities and new talent, respectively.

PHOTO: UNSPLASH

Patrick Tay

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In a world marked by disruption, jobs are not safe. As if to underscore this point, the first nine months of 2023

saw retrenchments in Singapore cross 11,000

– the highest since 2017. While unemployment remains low, workers would do well to prepare for a future in which they may have to switch careers. But this does not mean it is a hirer’s market, as many businesses are struggling to attract the right talent.

What can workers and firms do to brighten their prospects in these volatile times? It was precisely to answer this question that, in 2021, the SIM People Development Fund commissioned the Singapore University of Technology and Design’s Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities (SUTD LKYCIC) to research the topic.

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