Nearly 5,500 jobs are on offer in Singapore's healthcare sector, with three in four of them being long-term positions.
Close to 40 per cent - or 1,530 - of the 4,080 long-term jobs available are in professional and executive roles such as nurses, allied health professionals, and finance and human resources executives. The other 2,550 openings are support roles such as healthcare assistants, therapy assistants and patient service associates.
Support and administrative support roles make up about 95 per cent - or 1,330 - of the 1,390 short-term jobs on offer. The remaining short-term jobs are for professionals and executives.
These 5,500 jobs are part of the 6,700 job, traineeship and training openings in the sector as at the end of last month, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in its weekly jobs situation report yesterday. There are also about 470 company-hosted traineeships and attachments, as well as 760 training opportunities.
Long-term professional and executive roles include enrolled and registered nurses, who can earn between $3,300 and $5,200 a month, according to data on those who joined the healthcare sector in 2018, including experienced hires. The median monthly pay for nurses is $3,900.
The salary for allied health professionals is $4,100 to $5,000 a month, with a median of $4,400.
Long-term healthcare support jobs include roles such as patient service associates, who earn $2,400 to $3,000 monthly, with a median of $2,700. Healthcare assistants and therapy assistants earn between $1,800 and $2,300 each month, with a median of $2,100.
Healthcare has been among the top sectors offering jobs and skills opportunities here.
More than 80 per cent of the job openings are offered by public healthcare clusters such as SingHealth, National University Health System and National Healthcare Group, as well as community care organisations such as Ren Ci Hospital, Vanguard Healthcare and St Luke's Eldercare.
The ministry said about 8,350 people were placed into jobs, traineeships and training positions in the healthcare sector between April and last month.
About 93 per cent were placed into jobs, the majority of which were short-term in nature, said MOM. These include swabbers and swab assistants to support Covid-19-related operations, as well as care ambassadors and patient concierge personnel. Some of them have transitioned into long-term roles in the sector.
It added that current workers can also consider switching to professional roles such as nursing or allied health by tapping the professional conversion programmes.
Singapore's healthcare sector is supported by a workforce of more than 100,000 people across both public and private sectors. About 70 per cent of it is made up of healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, while the remaining 30 per cent comprises support care, administrative and ancillary workers.
The Covid-19 pandemic has created temporary vacancies for a range of roles to support increased testing operations. In addition, healthcare professionals were mobilised to serve at Covid-19 facilities and medical posts.
At a virtual media conference, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said the sector has been committing resources to expand the talent pipeline and equip existing workers with updated skills.
"When people think about whether they will take up a career in healthcare, they also see themselves not just as taking on any job... They also know that it is a profession that demands a very high level of commitment," she added.
