The leading continuing education and training provider in Singapore, the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) LearningHub released their latest Emerging Job and Skills report (EJS Report) that revealed 81% of employees are concerned about their jobs and roles in their respective industries with the impact of digitalization.
Responses from over 650 working professionals, including employers and employees, about the current job market, emerging jobs and skills and the training landscape, were gathered.
The survey revealed that while both employees and employers have concerns over the need to upskill amid the digitalization of the workplace, both inevitably see the importance of upskilling and reskilling to remain relevant and competitive.
Employee concerns about the accelerated digitalization of the workplace included 46% stating the need to learn new skills to stay relevant, 40% stated the fear of not being able to adapt to new and complex skills and 31% fearing being replaced due to the lack of skills.
These concerns lead to 93% of employee respondents stating the need to upgrade their skills to remain competitive in their current roles. Specifically, 66% citing the need to upskill to gain a better career progression, 58% stating to upskill for better pay, and 50% stating the need to upskill to better match the existing skill sets.
On the other hand, the surveyed 57% employers stated the need for digitalization was the need for reskilling and upskilling of worker’s in order to meet the new skills and demands of industry landscapes.
Further opinions about this included 54% stating the need to cut down on employee’s time spent doing automated or repetitive work, and 54% stating that employees need hybrid roles, roles that require different skills.
Director of Infocomm Technology at NTUC LearningHub, Anthony Chew, commented that it was heartening to see that many employees see the importance of upskilling, and he urges trainees to not fear the digitalization but to take advantage of the digital transformation to uplift their skills and employability, and that lastly, employees who are able to adapt well will be considered an asset to the organizations they work for, no matter what sector they belong to, as digital skills today are easily transferable across different jobs.
