S'pore manufacturing faces talent crunch

S'pore manufacturing faces talent crunch
By Lois Calderon | Posted: 30 May 2011 2216 hrs

SINGAPORE: Workers in the manufacturing sector in Singapore have taken on a different profile and are no longer seen as the typical blue-collar workers.

As the economy moves up the value chain, manufacturing workers have also evolved into one who's highly paid, tech-savvy, and with a university degree.

However, analysts said the problem is that there may not be enough talent pool in the market to meet the growing needs of the sector.

Singapore's factory workers have a new face now.

They don't make toys and garments anymore.

Instead, they're experts in the fields of pharmaceutical, medical engineering, fiber optics and offshore marine.

That is the case as big global names make Singapore their regional headquarters, while sweatshops have been moved to China, Brazil and increasingly Vietnam and Indonesia.

But finding this new breed of skilled workers for the sector is becoming a challenge for employers.

Singapore International Chamber of Commerce chief executive Phillip Overmyer said: "I need a whole different set of people from what I have today.

"I still need the manufacturing people but now, I need people who can design products for Asia as opposed to designing products for America, for example.

"I need people who can do logistics distribution, people who can market to the Asian market as opposed to marketing back in the US.

"The trouble that manufacturers have along with other industries in Singapore is generally not being able to find enough people.

"It's not so much that there aren't jobs; it's that there are not enough people who are interested in those jobs".

Businesses are willing to pay a premium for workers who have the skills needed for high-value manufacturing jobs.

But increased competition with industries, such as the financial sector that could afford more attractive salary packages, is putting extra pressure on wages.

Some analysts said Singapore may have to attract these talents from abroad or risk losing its manufacturing sector entirely.

Economists also said the rising labour costs in the sector could lead to fewer jobs being created.

It would also mean that hiring will focus only on highly-skilled workers in highly capital-intensive industries.

UOB Group economist Alvin Liew said: "In terms of manufacturing direction of growth, I think that this is an inevitable stage of development whereby we used to be a low-cost production centre.

"But as costs have gone up and we've moved up the value chain in terms of our technology expertise, we should be moving into higher valued production, but at that costs (it) would be that employment opportunities would be very much diminished in manufacturing".

Jobs statistics available at the Ministry of Manpower showed that factory workers accounted for less than a tenth of the more than one million new jobs created between 1997 and 2010.

-CNA/wk

- wong chee tat :)