Early efforts to upskill the local workforce have shown promising results
The Jobs Transformation Map for the Information and Communications (I&C) workforce has identified emerging tech trends that can impact future jobs. Some I&C job roles have also been identified as areas where workers may face the risk of being displaced as jobs evolve with rapid tech changes. Launched by Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo today at the 5G Learning Festival, she also announced that IMDA will be appointing training partners to scale up the reskilling of relevant skills for the near future.
Emerging tech trends that will influence high demand for skilled workers in the next 3 to 5 years include 5G and IoT; Cloud Computing; Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Analytics. These trends will lead to increasing demand for skills in at least three areas, namely (1) Software Engineering; (2) Cloud and Mobility; and (3) AI and analytics. The JTM empowers workers to take control of their career development and progression by guiding them to areas where they can focus their re-skilling or up-skilling efforts. It also serves as a reference guide for employers when redesigning jobs and reskilling employees as job roles evolve, or when new ones emerge. This is pertinent for employers who are transforming their business models and workforce capabilities to stay relevant and competitive.
Early efforts to upskill the local workforce has shown promising efforts through the Singapore 5G & Telecoms Academy1. Over 7,000 locals have taken courses in 5G and related technologies in the past 2 years, building the foundation for a well-trained, 5G-ready workforce. Employers have also tapped on Workforce Singapore’s Career Conversion Programme to retain and reskill existing employees to take on new or redesigned job roles, such as 5G Product Developer and Cloud System Administrator.
Further training will be done at scale through appointed training partners under IMDA’s TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) programme, and Singaporeans can look forward to these opportunities next year. IHLs will collaborate with the industry to help employers identify at-risk employees and assist them in reskilling their I&C workforce. Modular training on basic and intermediate skills in the abovementioned areas will be available to all Singaporeans. More details will be announced when ready in 2023.
Kiren Kumar, Deputy Chief Executive, IMDA, said, “At IMDA, we want to ensure that Singaporeans continue to have good tech jobs and opportunities, and companies have good access to local tech talent. The Jobs Transformation Map we launched today is part of this effort. It looks to provide a guide for professionals to upskill and re-skill in an ever-changing Digital Economy, and provides a reference for employers to redesign jobs, as well as provide the necessary training and reskilling for their employees to take up new roles as required. We will continue to do more under our TechSkills Accelerator initiative, including working with new partners to provide Singaporeans with training opportunities in emerging areas.”
