Key Factors for Strong Labour Market Demand for Engineers and Technology Specialists, While PMETs Face Retrenchments

16 Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for Manpower in view of strong hiring demand for engineers and technology specialists alongside rising retrenchments among Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) reported in the annual job vacancies report, what are the key factors driving this mismatch in the labour market.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Manpower (Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong) (for the Minister for Manpower): Mismatches in the labour market may be driven by shifts in skill requirements. For example, firms are expanding technology functions, driving sustained demand for jobs like AI engineers and engineering professionals, while restructuring other professional, manager, executive and technician (PMET) roles that have become easier to automate. Retrenched PMETs may lack the specific technical skills and experience to fulfil the requirements in in-demand engineering and technology specialist jobs.

Mr Speaker: Mr Yong.

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Radin Mas): Sir, I would like to ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary have we done a study on the profiles of those PMETs who have been retrenched and also, what are the types of jobs that the market is looking for? And whether the Ministry has any plans to improve our job matching and reskilling interventions, so that we can better align displaced PMETs with available roles in these new areas of engineering and technology?

And how does the Ministry then assess the effectiveness of such efforts to date, if they already exist?

Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong: I thank the Member for the supplementary questions. In fact, to better understand the hiring landscape today, the hiring demand for PMETs remains higher than the number of PMET retrenchments. And many of the in-demand PMET jobs are actually in finance and infocomm. As of December 2025, these two sectors had PMET vacancies of 4,100 and 5,300 respectively. Comparatively, there were only 960 PMET retrenchments across both sectors for the last quarter of 2025. And in these particular sectors, the PMET retrenchments remain low relative to entire workforce size, and there remain ample opportunities available.

To that point, the Government will always continue to provide support for workers to upskill and reskill into these roles. To the Member's second point, for the Workforce Singapore (WSG), for the Career Conversion Programmes, we support workers to reskill into growth jobs and into longer-term prospects by provision of salary support to the employers. Over the last three years we have placed over 7,300 workers into tech and engineering related jobs through these Career Conversion Programmes. So, I encourage them to take it up.

Mr Speaker: Dr Neo Kok Beng.

Dr Neo Kok Beng (Nominated Member): Thank you, Sir. I would like to ask: in the case of a professional conversion programme, especially for engineers and technologists who are retrenched, is it possible to propose for the WSG to work with professional institutions to design programmes that are directly relevant to the industry, rather than take up courses that are designed by the universities or the polytechnics?

Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong: I thank the Member. Can the Member repeat the question, please?

Dr Neo Kok Beng: Yes, my question simply means that whether the Ministry or WSG will consider developing or working with professional institutions for those particular professions or trade to develop programmes that are relevant directly to the industries, rather than looking at programmes that are developed by the universities or the other academic institutions?

Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong: Yes, I thank the Member for the question. The answer is yes. In fact, the WSG does work very closely with the institutes of higher learning to make sure that these courses are industry relevant, especially for the professional societies.