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The shifts in Singaporeans’ career preferences are driven by their perceptions of relevance, job security, and remuneration.
Singaporeans face greater challenges in charting their mapping their careers today compared to a decade ago. This sentiment was particularly shared by 81% of Singaporeans surveyed — surpassing the ASEAN average of 64% and the corresponding figures from all other economies surveyed. For instance, only 51% of respondents in Thailand and 31% in Vietnam indicated the same.
The survey by Blackbox, titled 'Success Reimagined', probed into the reasons for this changing perception. The top reason was perceived lesser job stability today (22%), followed by the fast-changing nature of work due to tech and AI (20%). Other reasons included:
- greater competition in the most popular career paths (16%),
- people being more interested in work-life balance than career building (13%), prioritising making money faster than building a career (11%),
- employers seeking more diverse work experience (8%),
- a plethora of job options (6%).
Another notable trend amongst Singaporeans was that workers continued to hold traditional, “prestige” professions in high regard. A significant proportion of respondents find careers in law (89%), engineering (73%), medicine (73%), accounting (78%), and banking/finance (81%) as desirable, or more, desirable today as they were a decade ago.
Of all the professions under consideration in the study, respondents considered architecture (94%), computer science (93%), and data analytics (91%) to be the most desirable.
Other established professions under perceived threat
Conversely, there were also sizeable shifts in perceptions towards other established professions. Interestingly, 42% of Singaporeans consider a career in education as less desirable than 10 years ago. This could be attributed to various factors, such as increased workload and administrative burdens, low pay compared to other professions, or a perceived lack of career progression opportunities. More than four in ten (41%) of respondents also perceived a career in health services as less desirable, possibly due to the demanding nature of the work, the strain on work-life balance, and the challenges faced by healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Above all, 54% of Singaporeans believe a career in the food and beverage industry is less desirable than a decade ago, which could be driven by concerns over long working hours, intense competition, and the perceived instability of the sector. Similarly, 45% of respondents view a career in public service as less appealing, which may be influenced by the perception of limited upward mobility, bureaucratic constraints, and the allure of more dynamic private sector opportunities.
Hottest careers
When it comes to the hottest and most desirable careers for young people in Singapore’s job market today, 52% of respondents selected AI/machine learning as among their top two choices.
This comes as no surprise, as the demand aligns with the global trend of increasing reliance on automation and artificial intelligence in various industries. While AI is expected to result in millions of jobs being lost, it is also creating a demand for highly skilled “prompt writers”, with some companies reportedly offering to pay US$300,000 (S$400,000) for the role.
The attraction for AI was consistent across all Singaporean age demographics surveyed, with 52% of younger Singaporeans aged 15-34 also nominating this as the hottest career from the options provided, which aligned exactly with the overall response rate.
This was then followed by:
- Fintech and blockchain engineering (26%)
- Data science (21%)
- Medical science/technology (20)
Relevance, job security, and higher pay are crucial
The shifts in Singaporeans’ career preferences are driven by their perceptions of relevance, job security, and remuneration. For those who selected AI and machine learning as among of their hottest career preferences, 61% of respondents said they chose it because they believed it is more relevant to today’s society.
Job security is also a significant factor influencing career choices. Respondents consistently ranked this as a key factor for all of the perceived hottest career choices. In terms of jobs, it was ranked particularly highly as a defining factor for AI (39%), data science (50%), and network engineering and cybersecurity (54%).
Interestingly, higher pay – while still important – was not identified as too significant a factor for Singaporeans across professions. However, this was an exception for those who selected medical science/technology as a hot profession, with 51% of those respondents citing better compensation as the primary reason for doing so.
Meanwhile, for those individuals who chose environment and climate change solutions as their preferred career path, most cited the field’s contribution to the planet’s future as their reason for doing so. In fact, 66% of young Singaporeans (i.e,. aged 15-34 years) emphasised this aspect.
The relevance of qualification is under question
As a basis, there is still the prevailing belief that a university degree with high grades is necessary to secure jobs with a better salary, with a huge 92% of Singaporeans expressing this sentiment.
However, when asked about the relevance of their current educational qualifications to their present job roles, only 7% of respondents found them highly relevant. This contrast suggests a potential disconnect between the skills and knowledge acquired through formal education and the actual demands of the job market.
The study attributes the low perceived relevance of educational qualifications to current job roles to several possible factors:
- Firstly, the rapid pace of technological advancements and evolving industries can render certain aspects of traditional education outdated.
- Secondly, the practical skills and experience required for specific jobs may not be adequately emphasised in formal education.
- Lasty, employers’ preferences nowadays for specific qualifications or experiences that are not necessarily acquired through traditional academic pathways can also contribute to the perceived disconnect.
Lead image / Success Reimagined, Blackbox
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