31 March 2018

In order to strengthen the ability of Singapore’s workforce to take on a wider variety of occupations and better leverage on rapidly evolving technology, there is a need to increase the proportion of Singaporeans with post-secondary, non-tertiary education.

These views were articulated recently by Monetary Authority of Singapore managing director Ravi Menon, who opined that this group could be better trained to transform the nature of many mid-level jobs, as well as raise standards and productivity.

Singapore can professionalise rank-and-file jobs. This will lead to a stronger economy and also provide more opportunities for Singapore to increase wages, and by so doing, broaden the middle class.

There is also scope to increase productivity and efficiency in many domestic services jobs.

Mr Menon cited the examples of four occupations: Childcare worker, baker, security guard and plasterer. In Singapore, the typical pay for these occupations is between 30 and 60 per cent of the median wage. Mr Menon said: “There is scope to further professionalise these jobs in Singapore. In particular, to increase the skills content, leverage on technology, and improve business processes, and raise the quality of output”.