Singapore leads in creating the workforce of the future – powered by PeopleCert certifications

John Knott – Director, Global Academic Partnerships - PeopleCert

At the start of 2025, The World Economic Forum highlighted Singapore’s ambition to be a central player in readying the world’s workforce for future economic demands. At its heart, is the need to reskill the world’s populations, so nations can meet the human capital requirements of modern, digital economies.

A large part of the strategy is to deliver a common language of skills under a single framework known as a ‘global skills taxonomy’.

And among the skills in demand include those delivered by PeopleCert’s academic partners in Singapore – including training and certification in service management via ITIL and project management via PRINCE2 Project Management.

SkillsFuture

Singapore’s strategy puts it among the nations that are leading the “skills-first” approach, combining education and training including upskilling, reskilling, and increasing the digital literacy of workers. In doing so, Singapore will create a workforce that can be highly productive and compete in a rapidly evolving world.

SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) will be the conduit for preparing the workforce for high-growth sectors: digital, green and care economies. According to data analysis, specific skills will be in more demand, including:

• Digital Skills: AI, cybersecurity, data analytics and digital marketing.
• Green Skills: sustainable finance, renewable energy and environmental technology.
• Care Economy Skills: A focus on healthcare, elderly care and social support for an aging population.
• Advanced Manufacturing: automation, robotics, and precision engineering.
• IT Service Management: ITIL frameworks, cloud technologies and cybersecurity.
• Project Management: for complex infrastructure projects and organizational change programmes.

Data-led strategy

To inform its strategy, the Singapore government has created a skills intelligence dashboard and undertaken a gap analysis of present and future skills. This has highlighted specific skills Singaporeans must have to compete locally and the roles the workforce will need to fill for the country to compete globally.

This data-led approach helps policymakers and employers identify training requirements, including more resilience into the workforce. It’s therefore established several support schemes to help people move between industries and professions. The initiatives are also aimed at powering a mindset shift; in effect creating an ethos of ‘lifelong learning’.

These include the SkillsFuture Credit for adult learners, Mid-Career Training Support for those over 40, Enhanced Training Support for SMEs and Career Conversion Programmes (CCPs).

Four core skills to foster

While there is a specific focus on developing the skills that will specifically support green, care and digital economies, there’s also a need for skills that can transfer between sectors from manufacturing through construction, to transport and finance.

There are four core skills the nation must therefore foster: technology application skills and the advanced manufacturing skills needed for high value production and robotics, and the project management and IT service management skills that will underpin the digital economy.

However, the Singaporean government has recognized that to grow capability in these skill sets, and attract and retain people into future roles, salaries need to be competitive.

This has instigated partnerships with training providers who can ensure people attain certifications that are respected around the world and meet salary benchmarking standards.

Certifications in high demand

Among the certifications that are already highly valued by Singapore’s employers are those in project management and IT service management. It’s now well understood that being a PRINCE2 Project Management practitioner demonstrates capability, competence and commitment to professional standards and provides a skill that can map across an organization embarking on any form of change or transformation.

There are similar trends in IT service management, with organizations actively investing in training to grow internal capability. Employees with an understanding of ITIL service management best practice will be in high demand. Certifications in ITIL are therefore increasingly sought after by organizations looking to optimize their IT service delivery whilst also aligning to best practice.

There’s no doubt that Singapore's strategy is designed to succeed. And as the ICT market is expected to grow substantially, with wider adoption of the cloud, digital transformation and cyber security likely to dominate companies’ infrastructure projects, there’s much to gain from early investment in skills.