The Lion City is projected to be among the best places to
hire tech talents in the coming decade, recent Glassdoor report showed. This
positive forecast can be attributed mostly to Singapore’s highly educated
workforce, proximity to large Asian markets, as well as pro-tech-investment
policy stance.
Based on job postings on the jobs website Glassdoor, Singapore hiring trends outpaced that in the finance sector last year. There were over 5,800 job postings in the tech sector here on Glassdoor as of last November, compared with about 4,710 in finance. The company’s chief economist Andrew Chamberlain noted that while hiring slowed in 2016 and 2017, the number of job vacancies on the site is increasing. It saw 52,090 jobs posted in Singapore as of last November, up about 40 percent from a year earlier, Straits Times reports.
Ministry of Manpower figures also show that tech and finance hiring in Singapore is on the rise as a percentage of total vacant positions – from 6 per cent between 2006 and 2013, to over 12 percent as of June last year, noted Glassdoor.
Dr Chamberlain said, “The future of work in Singapore is likely to feature many more opportunities for ‘knowledge workers’ – those using data, software and intellectual skills – in the country’s growing tech and financial sectors.”
“With abundant tech talent and proximity to growing Asian markets, Singapore is a natural choice – something we expect to continue in 2019 and beyond.”
A factor behind the rise here is trade tensions between the US and China, as employers look increasingly to “move jobs into neutral territories outside of the US and China, to sidestep tariffs”, he added.
Based on Glassdoor data, the biggest demand in the tech industry is for software engineers, while in the finance sector it is for risk managers. Finance, however, still pays a premium. The estimated median base pay for jobs in finance is $8,338 a month, about $1,000 more than the median base pay for tech job openings.
When Glassdoor users complete a review of their employers, they are asked to rate the companies in areas such as work-life balance, compensation and benefits. The top indicator of workplace satisfaction is not pay, but factors such as a company’s culture and values, its quality of senior leadership, and the career opportunities available. The following rankings took into consideration reviews in Singapore:
HIGHEST-RATED EMPLOYERS
HIGHEST-RATED EMPLOYERS (COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS)
TOP 10 TECH EMPLOYERS
TOP 10 FINANCE EMPLOYERS
Read also: Millennials Hold the Key to Address Singapore’s IT skills Shortage
