Overall
- The number of employed infocomm manpower in Singapore grew by 4% over the past year to reach 108,000 (or about 5% of the total labour force) in June 2004. This was in tandem with the growth of the infocomm industry in 2004, which was 6%.
- In tandem too with the projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.5% of the infocomm sector, the number of employed infocomm manpower is expected to grow by a CAGR of 3.5% over the next 2 years.
- About half of the infocomm manpower worked in the infocomm sector and the other half in end user organisations in other industry sectors.
- Systems Management & Infrastructure (27%), Software & Applications (26%) and Infocomm Sales & Marketing (19%) represented the top three largest infocomm occupational categories.
Job Vacancies
- The number of infocomm job vacancies had doubled from 1,000 to 2,100 over the past year, reflecting the positive growth of the infocomm sector in Singapore.
- Software & Applications (27%) was identified as the infocomm occupational category with the highest vacancies, followed by Infocomm Education & Training (21%) and Systems Management & Infrastructure (16%).
Outsourcing of Infocomm Functions
- The number of organisations which had outsourced their infocomm functions increased from 10% in 2003 to 16% in 2004.
- The Annual Survey on Infocomm Manpower for 2004 is the sixth edition in a series of infocomm manpower surveys carried out by IDA. The infocomm manpower surveys are used to track infocomm manpower profile and requirements of the Singapore industry.
- The fieldwork for this survey was carried out from November 2004 till March 2005. The 2004 survey covered a total of 2,497 organisations comprising 572 infocomm organisations and 1,925 end-user organisations.
- The number of infocomm manpower in employment in 2004 was 108,000 which represented an increase of about 4% from 2003 (Figure 1). It comprised 5.2% of the labour force in Singapore.
Systems Management & Infrastructure, Software & Applications and Infocomm Sales & Marketing were the top three occupational categories with the highest number of employed infocomm manpower (Table 1).
Table 1: Distribution of Infocomm Manpower Across Occupational Categories
| Systems Management & Infrastructure |
27 |
| Software & Applications |
26 |
| Infocomm Sales & Marketing |
19 |
| Network & Data Communication |
8 |
| Infocomm Research & Development |
6 |
| Digital Media |
6 |
| Infocomm Education & Training |
5 |
| Voice/ Tele Communication |
3 |
| Total |
100 |
Base: All infocomm manpower (108,000)
- Over the past four years, the proportion of male infocomm manpower to female infocomm manpower remained quite constant with the ratio of 2 males to 1 female (Figure 2). This proportion was higher than the proportion of males in the Singapore labour force which was 55% for 20043(Figure 3).
- Over the past four years, the profile of infocomm manpower by highest qualifications attained did not differ much. 78% of infocomm manpower had tertiary qualifications with about two-fifths (38%) possessing a basic degree, 23% were diploma holders and 17% had postgraduate qualifications (Figure 4). This percentage was significantly higher than the percentage of employed persons in the labour force aged 15 years and above and with tertiary qualifications (32%)4 (Figure 5). This trend shows that the infocomm sector is one of the most knowledge-intensive sectors requiring more highly educated workers.
- The percentage of infocomm manpower aged 40 years and above had been steadily increasing since 2000 (Figure 6). This shows the aging of the infocomm workforce. However, this percentage (27%) was significantly lower than the percentage of employed persons in the labour force aged 15 years and above, who were 40 years and above (47%)6 (Figure 7).
- The top five essential skills selected by respondents were Operating Systems, IT Project Management, Infocomm Sales & Marketing, Database Management and Network Security Implementation & Administration (Table 2).
- Operating Systems, Database Management, IT Project Management, Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Management and Network Security Implementation & Administration emerged as skills with the greatest shortage of skilled manpower (Table 2).
- This year saw the emergence of Network Security Implementation & Administration as one of the top five essential skills.
Table 2: Top Five Skills
| Operating Systems |
1 |
1 |
| IT Project Management |
2 |
3 |
| Infocomm Sales & Marketing |
3 |
7 |
| Database Management |
4 |
2 |
| Network Security Implementation & Administration |
5 |
5 |
| Networking |
6 |
6 |
| Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Management |
7 |
4 |
Note: The ranking above was derived by weighting the responses given by organisations when asked to rank the top five skills which they considered as the most essential or with the greatest shortage, according to the level of importance.
- Organisations' increased optimism in the improving business climate was reflected by the growth in the number of job vacancies from 1,000 in 2003 to 2,100 in 2004 (Figure 8). The growth in the number of infocomm job vacancies over the past year (110%) was significantly higher than that of all job vacancies in Singapore (31%) 7.
- In terms of occupational categories, the highest number of vacancies was in Software & Applications (27%), followed by vacancies in Infocomm Education & Training (21%) and Systems Management & Infrastructure (16%) (Table 3).
Table 3: Distribution of Vacancies Across Occupational Categories
| Systems Management & Infrastructure |
27 |
| Software & Applications |
21 |
| Infocomm Sales & Marketing |
16 |
| Network & Data Communication |
14 |
| Infocomm Research & Development |
7 |
| Digital Media |
6 |
| Infocomm Education & Training |
5 |
| Voice/ Tele Communication |
4 |
| Total |
100 |
Base: Total infocomm job vacancies in 2004 (2,100).
- Organisations had projected positive growth in the number of employed infocomm manpower over the next two years with the demand for infocomm manpower jobs expected to rise by a CAGR of 3.5% over the next 2 years. This was a reflection of the positive outlook of the Singapore economy.
- The percentage of organisations which outsourced their infocomm functions had significantly increased from 10% in 2003 to 16% in 2004 (Figure 9).
- Overall, organisations preferred to outsource their infocomm functions (85%) to companies based locally. This percentage had not changed over the past year (Figure 10).
- The survey findings showed that the number of employed infocomm manpower had been steadily increasing since 2001. This provided an indication that the prospects of the infocomm industry had steadily improved. This is the first time the number of infocomm workers exceeded the number during the dotcom boom year of 2000 (105,600).
1 The definition of infocomm manpower categories differed from the previous years' surveys. The 2004 set of occupational categories have merged some of the 2003 occupational categories such as Systems Administration with Technical Support and excluded categories such as Infocomm Management.
2 This is based on employed infocomm manpower as at 1st June 2004.
3 Labour force figure from Report on Labour Force in Singapore 2004, Ministry of Manpower.
4 Labour force figure from Report on Labour Force in Singapore 2004, Ministry of Manpower.
5 The 2000 data is not comparable to the rest of the years' data due to differences in some of the categories.
6 Labour force figure from Report on Labour Force in Singapore 2004, Ministry of Manpower.
7 This higher percentage could be due to a smaller base as compared to the overall job vacancies in Singapore.
8 Data is not available for years 2000-2002.
9 Data is not available for years 2000-2002