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Every debate about employment in manpower-lean Singapore rightly focuses on whether we’re realising the full potential of every individual. That logic recognises that the population is ageing, workforce growth is slowing and every additional worker is hard to come by.
This same conversation played out recently with the release of complementary reports by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the National Trades Union Congress on “overqualification”, as two key findings were actively discussed.
First, a rise in overqualification – from 16.3 per cent in 2015 to 19.4 per cent in 2025 – as more Singaporeans attain tertiary education, though this figure remains lower than that in most developed economies.
Second, nine in 10 overqualified workers in Singapore have voluntarily chosen job roles below their qualification level, while the rate of “involuntary overqualification” has remained stable at around 3 per cent over the past decade.
The reports certainly improve our understanding of Singapore’s labour market and facilitates international comparisons on underemployment. This new measure of overqualification which MOM adopted for its report is based on an approach developed with the International Labour Organisation that compares workers’ highest educational qualification with the qualification level typically required for their occupation. Prior to this, the only reported measure of underemployment in Singapore was “time-related underemployment”, referring to those who are not working full-time but are willing and available to work more hours.
Still, these figures may mask deeper labour market issues that need addressing. Such a static concept of overqualification measures mismatches narrowly – by comparing a worker’s formal qualifications with those required for a job. This makes sense in a credential-driven labour market but less so in one that aspires for employment to be based on skills.
In reality, workers without a degree may be fully capable of performing a role typically done by graduates. They may have acquired the necessary skills through training or learning on the job. Likewise, degree holders may not be overqualified for a “non-graduate” job, if the role can tap their broader skills and provide them with autonomy and greater responsibilities.
Furthermore, technology is transforming the content of jobs. The AI-driven trend of “job fractionalisation” – the decomposition of jobs into smaller tasks – will make the notion of overqualification or underqualification based on broad job types and occupations less relevant going forward.
The real challenge for Singapore is twofold: whether people with the requisite skills can be matched to jobs without being held back by a lack of academic qualifications, and whether jobs can evolve to leverage the occupant’s full suite of competencies.
Focusing on skills instead of credentials
Today, significant barriers remain to employers adopting a skills-based approach to matching people with jobs, as we highlight in a series of working papers published by the Institute for Adult Learning’s Centre for Skills-First Practices. Many employers still rely on formal credentials as a signalling tool.
Singapore has made progress in creating an established skills taxonomy in the form of Skills Frameworks, but having a common language isn’t the same as having a trusted currency. Skills are difficult to verify, compare and port across roles. The Career and Skills Passport, a personal digital repository of skills, employment and academic qualifications launched by SkillsFuture Singapore in 2024, could play this role if it moves beyond listing formal credentials and training certificates and can translate work experience into recognisable competencies.
This would require systematic efforts to codify skills acquired on the job or demonstrated through work, and verified through timely assessments. Advances in artificial intelligence make this approach increasingly feasible. A hackathon to test the best solutions could help build the system.
Institutes of higher learning could complement this effort by designing student transcripts that reflect both academic grades and skills. Skills-based transcripts – like the one introduced by Temasek Polytechnic for students graduating in 2026 – should become standard. They should also reflect skills acquired through co-curricular activities and internships, in addition to the formal curriculum.
Reimagining jobs
But better matching is only half of the solution, when Singapore’s deeper challenge is structural. In a manpower-constrained economy and a tight labour market, the risk is not a shortage of jobs but a growing disconnect between available roles and what people aspire to do.
Consider the growing demand in healthcare, skilled trades and other hands-on occupations. While generative AI may threaten jobs that are primarily cognitive in nature, jobs which require manual skills or dexterity remain comparatively resilient to automation. The challenge is that many young Singaporeans today still prefer office-based roles. Left unaddressed, this creates a paradox: unfilled jobs alongside underutilised talent and rising reliance on foreign manpower even as locals struggle to find fulfilling work.
Part of the fix requires raising salaries in less popular sectors. Yet, job attractiveness also depends on whether work is meaningful and how it is perceived by society. This requires a rethinking and redesign of roles so that they become attractive and aspirational occupations for the broadest range of Singaporeans.
In this, the aim should be to develop job roles that integrate “head”, “heart” and “hand” competencies – blending cognitive, creative, interpersonal and technical skills – to attract Singaporeans and allow the job to grow with them as they become more skilled and proficient.
Take, for example, advanced practice nurses who are entrusted with greater professional responsibility with commensurate remuneration and recognition. Nurses who begin with certificates or diplomas can also take on these roles if they gain experience and upskill on the job. With further training and the aid of technology, nurses can do certain tasks once performed only by doctors, such as diagnosing common conditions, prescribing selected medications, managing chronic diseases, and leading patient care plans independently in community and primary care settings.
Skilled trades can evolve in similar ways. Plumbing need not be limited to fixing leaks. With training and technology, it can evolve into a diagnostic and advisory role – to analyse entire water systems, recommend efficient upgrades, and implement preventive maintenance strategies. This would shift the role from reactive work to one more analytical, intellectually engaging and relational – as a trusted adviser to home owners and businesses.
This same conversation played out recently with the release of complementary reports by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the National Trades Union Congress on “overqualification”, as two key findings were actively discussed.
First, a rise in overqualification – from 16.3 per cent in 2015 to 19.4 per cent in 2025 – as more Singaporeans attain tertiary education, though this figure remains lower than that in most developed economies.
Second, nine in 10 overqualified workers in Singapore have voluntarily chosen job roles below their qualification level, while the rate of “involuntary overqualification” has remained stable at around 3 per cent over the past decade.
The reports certainly improve our understanding of Singapore’s labour market and facilitates international comparisons on underemployment. This new measure of overqualification which MOM adopted for its report is based on an approach developed with the International Labour Organisation that compares workers’ highest educational qualification with the qualification level typically required for their occupation. Prior to this, the only reported measure of underemployment in Singapore was “time-related underemployment”, referring to those who are not working full-time but are willing and available to work more hours.
Still, these figures may mask deeper labour market issues that need addressing. Such a static concept of overqualification measures mismatches narrowly – by comparing a worker’s formal qualifications with those required for a job. This makes sense in a credential-driven labour market but less so in one that aspires for employment to be based on skills.
In reality, workers without a degree may be fully capable of performing a role typically done by graduates. They may have acquired the necessary skills through training or learning on the job. Likewise, degree holders may not be overqualified for a “non-graduate” job, if the role can tap their broader skills and provide them with autonomy and greater responsibilities.
Furthermore, technology is transforming the content of jobs. The AI-driven trend of “job fractionalisation” – the decomposition of jobs into smaller tasks – will make the notion of overqualification or underqualification based on broad job types and occupations less relevant going forward.
The real challenge for Singapore is twofold: whether people with the requisite skills can be matched to jobs without being held back by a lack of academic qualifications, and whether jobs can evolve to leverage the occupant’s full suite of competencies.
Focusing on skills instead of credentials
Today, significant barriers remain to employers adopting a skills-based approach to matching people with jobs, as we highlight in a series of working papers published by the Institute for Adult Learning’s Centre for Skills-First Practices. Many employers still rely on formal credentials as a signalling tool.
Singapore has made progress in creating an established skills taxonomy in the form of Skills Frameworks, but having a common language isn’t the same as having a trusted currency. Skills are difficult to verify, compare and port across roles. The Career and Skills Passport, a personal digital repository of skills, employment and academic qualifications launched by SkillsFuture Singapore in 2024, could play this role if it moves beyond listing formal credentials and training certificates and can translate work experience into recognisable competencies.
This would require systematic efforts to codify skills acquired on the job or demonstrated through work, and verified through timely assessments. Advances in artificial intelligence make this approach increasingly feasible. A hackathon to test the best solutions could help build the system.
Institutes of higher learning could complement this effort by designing student transcripts that reflect both academic grades and skills. Skills-based transcripts – like the one introduced by Temasek Polytechnic for students graduating in 2026 – should become standard. They should also reflect skills acquired through co-curricular activities and internships, in addition to the formal curriculum.
Reimagining jobs
But better matching is only half of the solution, when Singapore’s deeper challenge is structural. In a manpower-constrained economy and a tight labour market, the risk is not a shortage of jobs but a growing disconnect between available roles and what people aspire to do.
Consider the growing demand in healthcare, skilled trades and other hands-on occupations. While generative AI may threaten jobs that are primarily cognitive in nature, jobs which require manual skills or dexterity remain comparatively resilient to automation. The challenge is that many young Singaporeans today still prefer office-based roles. Left unaddressed, this creates a paradox: unfilled jobs alongside underutilised talent and rising reliance on foreign manpower even as locals struggle to find fulfilling work.
Part of the fix requires raising salaries in less popular sectors. Yet, job attractiveness also depends on whether work is meaningful and how it is perceived by society. This requires a rethinking and redesign of roles so that they become attractive and aspirational occupations for the broadest range of Singaporeans.
In this, the aim should be to develop job roles that integrate “head”, “heart” and “hand” competencies – blending cognitive, creative, interpersonal and technical skills – to attract Singaporeans and allow the job to grow with them as they become more skilled and proficient.
Take, for example, advanced practice nurses who are entrusted with greater professional responsibility with commensurate remuneration and recognition. Nurses who begin with certificates or diplomas can also take on these roles if they gain experience and upskill on the job. With further training and the aid of technology, nurses can do certain tasks once performed only by doctors, such as diagnosing common conditions, prescribing selected medications, managing chronic diseases, and leading patient care plans independently in community and primary care settings.
Skilled trades can evolve in similar ways. Plumbing need not be limited to fixing leaks. With training and technology, it can evolve into a diagnostic and advisory role – to analyse entire water systems, recommend efficient upgrades, and implement preventive maintenance strategies. This would shift the role from reactive work to one more analytical, intellectually engaging and relational – as a trusted adviser to home owners and businesses.
Other occupations long seen as “blue collar” can follow the same path, if they are redesigned for professional development and skills upgrading over time, so that they become realistic options for a broader group of workers from different educational backgrounds.
This requires giving workers the space to carve out new roles for themselves, and to expand their skillsets to grow into adjacent or complementary job roles. For instance, taxi drivers have doubled as tourist guides by acquiring the relevant licences. There are also photographers who have become visual storytellers by mastering a range of media. In this AI age, seizing opportunities to evolve one’s job for career resilience and self-actualisation should be the norm.
This vision of a more flexible and dynamic labour market starts with prioritising skills – recognised not only through academic credentials, but also through work-based achievements, peer validation and rigorous skills assessments.
A skills-first approach enables better matching of skills to jobs and increases the pool of suitable job candidates for employers to consider, while expanding career possibilities and pathways for workers, regardless of their formal credentials. Workers can then grow into jobs and jobs can evolve to fully utilise the skills workers bring.
The commentary by Associate Professor (Practice) Terence Ho, Executive Director, Institute for Adult Learning was first published in The Straits Times on 27 April 2026.