Disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated, any opinions expressed below belong solely to the author. List published by the Ministry of Manpower.
Singapore’s economy may be growing at a record pace this year, but the boom—driven by demand for AI-related hardware products—has had an uneven impact on the job market.
The total number of unemployed citizens increased to 64,700 last quarter, the highest figure since 2021. It was driven by a relatively high number of redundancies (4,800)—and the last time more Singaporeans were laid off in a single quarter was in Q4 of 2020, when it hit 5,640.
At the same time, however, there are still many jobs which are starved of workforce to such a degree that the Ministry of Manpower is giving bonus points to foreign candidates applying for an Employment Pass in these professions. This makes it a useful indicator for locals as well.
Every year in Nov, MOM updates the Shortage Occupation List ahead of the new calendar year, where it provides a complete breakdown of all the jobs that are in dire need of workers.
If you’re looking for a career idea, it might be a good place to start, as they tend to stay on the list for a while. It may also provide you with some ideas for a career pivot within your area of expertise, which you may not have considered earlier.
The list covers seven industries, 30 occupational categories and 147 specific job titles, which MOM identified as suffering a shortage of workers:
Agritech
1. Specialty ingredient application scientist
- Alternative protein food application scientist
- Specialty ingredient application scientist
2. Novel food biotechnologist
Energy & Chemicals
3. Chemical engineering technician (petroleum/ natural gas)
- Chemical engineering technician (petroleum)
- Chemical engineering technician (natural gas)
- Chemical engineering technician (petroleum/natural gas)
- Chemical technician
- Console operator
- Control room operator
- Distributed control system (DCS) operator
- Distributed control system (DCS) supervisor
- Field process technician
- Plant technician
- Process engineer
- Process operator
- Process technician
- Production technician
4. Chemical processing and chemical products plant controller
- Chemical processing and chemical products plant controller
- Process controller
- Production controller
5. Materials engineer
- Material analysis engineer
- Materials engineer
- Material science engineer
- Material scientist
- Materials & process engineer
Green Economy
6. Carbon project/ program manager
- Carbon programme manager
- Carbon project developer
- Carbon project manager
- Carbon project originator
7. Carbon standards and methodology analyst
- Carbon rating analyst
- Carbon standards and methodology analyst
- Carbon standards & methodology developer
8. Carbon trader
Healthcare
9. Clinical psychologist
10. Diagnostic radiographer
- Diagnostic radiographer
- Magnetic resonance imaging technologist
- Mammographer
- Medical diagnostic radiographer
- Radiologic technologist
11. Genetic counsellor
12. Pharmacist (patient care)
- Pharmacist
- Pharmacist (patient care)
- Specialist pharmacist (specialty)
13. Registered nurse
- Assistant director of nursing
- Assistant nurse clinician
- Chief nurse
- Clinic nurse
- Clinical nurse
- Deputy director of nursing
- Director of nursing
- Emergency nurse
- Industrial nurse
- Maternity nurse
- Nurse clinician
- Nurse educator
- Nurse manager
- Nurse midwife
- Matron (nursing)
- Obstetrics nurse
- Occupational health nurse
- Orthopaedic nurse
- Paediatric nurse
- Perioperative nurse
- Professional nurse
- Psychiatric nurse
- Public health nurse
- Registered nurse
- School nurse
- Sister (nursing)
- Staff nurse
14. Podiatrist
15. Medical social worker
- Psychiatric social worker
- Healthcare social worker
- Hospital social worker
- Palliative care social worker
- Medical social worker
Infocomm Technology
16. Artificial intelligence (AI)/ machine learning (ML) engineer
17. Artificial intelligence (AI) applied researcher
- AI applied researcher
- AI researcher
- AI scientist
18. Cloud specialist
- Cloud architect
- Cloud engineer
- Cloud operations engineer
- Cloud specialist
19. Data scientist
- Chief data scientist
- Data engineer
- Data scientist
- Head of data analytics
20. Digital forensics specialist
- Computer forensics expert
- Computer forensics investigator
- Cyber forensics expert
- Cyber forensics investigation specialist
- Cyber incident investigation specialist
- Cyber threat investigation specialist
- Digital forensic expert
- Digital forensics analyst
- Digital forensics specialist
- ICT forensics expert
- Information forensics expert
21. Forward deployed engineer
22. Penetration testing specialist
- Ethical hacker
- Exploitation analyst
- ICT security tester
- Network security tester
- Penetration testing specialist
- Security penetration tester
- Security penetration testing manager
- System security tester
- Vulnerability analyst
23. Quantum scientist/engineer
- Quantum scientist
- Quantum engineer
24. Software developer
- Applications developer
- Blockchain architect
- Blockchain developer
- Blockchain engineer
- Computer software engineer
- Cryptography architect
- Cryptography developer
- Cryptography engineer
- Full stack developer
- Full stack engineer
- Platform engineer
- Platform engineering manager
- Programmers and software development professional
- Software developer
- Software engineer
Maritime
25. Marine superintendent
- Marine superintendent (deck)
- Marine superintendent
26. Marine technical superintendent
- Marine/vessel manager
- Marine superintendent (engineer)
- Technical superintendent (marine)
Semiconductor
27. Automation engineer
- Automated systems engineer
- Automation engineer
- Automation systems engineer
- Autonomous systems engineer
- Robotics engineer
28. Materials engineer
- Materials engineer
- Materials engineer (nanotechnology)
29. Semi-conductor engineer
- Semi-conductor engineer
- Integrated circuit designer
- Microchip engineer
- Product engineer
- Test engineer
30. Process engineer
- Process engineer
- Process technology engineer
- Process engineer (electronic)
As you can see, the list consists largely of jobs in three main categories: healthcare, IT and engineering, with a few specialised ones on the fringes (Agritech, Green Economy, Maritime).
Despite the rise of AI, the demand for skilled IT personnel is still high—it just requires the right skills.
This typically means either someone specialising in AI itself or someone with experience in cybersecurity, which is very high on the agenda of all companies and the government, given the new threats emerging almost every day thanks to artificial intelligence.
Semiconductor manufacturing, which is at the centre of Singapore’s current economic boom, is also looking for candidates, although it carries some risk should the AI bubble burst, collapsing the demand for hardware. Until then, however, it might be one of the lucrative jobs out there.
You can also notice a pattern of professions reflecting Singapore’s key strengths, like Chemicals or Maritime services, and also vulnerabilities, like its dependence on imports for food (a portion of which would best be grown locally) or the ageing of the local society, which keeps increasing the demand for healthcare workers.
Doctors have rarely, if ever, had any issues with employment, but if you’re studying or working in engineering or computer science, this list could be a good indication of what to specialise in, and where to look for work in the coming year or two, if not longer.
- Read other articles we’ve written on Singapore’s job landscape here.
Featured Image Credit: Google Street View, enhanced using AI
