Experts cited tech and finance as growth sectors both this year and in the year ahead. — The Straits Times
SINGAPORE: Technology and finance specialists seeking jobs are in a sweet spot for 2024, with strong demand for positions in their areas.
Data on job vacancies in Singapore released by the Manpower Ministry (MOM) on Dec 29 showed that among professionals, the top jobs in demand as of September 2023 are software, web and multimedia developers – similar to the situation in 2022.
According to the dataset, data scientists are another of the occupations in demand, with the second-highest share of vacancies within the information and communications technology (ICT) sector.
Among managerial roles, the highest demand is for business and sales positions, including business development, budgeting and financial accounting, sales as well as marketing.
For graduate job seekers with degree-level qualifications and above, the top three jobs in demand are software, web and multimedia developers; budgeting and financial-accounting managers; and business development managers.
In the associate professionals and technicians group, the top three jobs are commercial and marketing sales executives; pre-primary education teachers; and operations officers, excluding those in transport operations.
The data also showed that for rank-and-file positions, the top 10 occupations were fairly similar to last year’s list.
Receptionists as well as customer service and information clerks remain the top jobs in demand. They comprised nearly four in 10 of the vacancies in the clerical and services group.
Experts interviewed by The Straits Times also cited tech and finance as growth sectors both this year and in the year ahead.
Chew Siew Mee, managing director, Jobstreet by Seek, told ST that based on the recruitment site’s database, ICT, engineering as well as banking and finance sectors topped the charts for the highest number of job postings on its platform in 2023.
She added that this data was corroborated by Jobstreet’s 2023 salary guide, where the banking and finance industry saw a notable 68% surge in job advertisements post-pandemic, alongside a 10% to 34% increase in salaries, particularly at levels below senior management.
According to Jobstreet’s salary report for 2023, there was a 105% surge in job listings for the education sector compared to the previous year, accompanied by an overall salary increase of 21%.
The report, released on Dec 22, also showed that the technology sector continues to offer abundant job prospects and has seen a 16% salary increase compared to pre-pandemic levels. — The Straits Times/ANN
