Amid talent shortage, most Singapore tech firms to hike salaries in 2022

digital talent
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Tech professionals such as data scientists, cybersecurity analysts and developers will be in high demand in 2022 when job-seeking picks up in Singapore and workers look forward to moving jobs post-pandemic – and tech firms will offer premium salaries to cope with a serious talent shortage.

COVID-19 appears to have propelled a major digital shift, resulting in greater demand for technical talent this year, according to surveys from Robert Walters and Randstad Singapore released on Monday.

According to the Robert Walters Salary Survey 2022, slightly over half of respondents plan to switch jobs in the next six months as salaries rise dramatically. Those who seek to change jobs can anticipate salary premiums of up to 15%.

Meanwhile, Randstad Singapore’s salary benchmarks estimate that a junior software engineer may earn S$5,000 (around $3,650) a month, whereas an experienced one will make roughly S$14,000 per month.

Daljit Sall, senior director at Randstad Singapore for technology hiring, expects a worldwide acceleration in the flow of talent as borders open up and IT professionals move between employers. He said that this will likely happen in the next year or so.

Even in sectors unrelated to technology, such as banking and financial services, demand for IT talent will be high in areas like cybersecurity and data analytics, according to Randstad Singapore’s research. Banks have also ramped up headhunting for individuals in environmental, social and governance (ESG) roles.

“Sectors such as information & communications technology, banking & financial services, professional services as well as life sciences have fully recovered and are thriving. There is also a corresponding number of new job opportunities in these sectors as companies leveraged the digital economy to scale their operations and expand their presence, offer more products and services, or both,” said Jaya Dass, Managing Director at Randstad – Singapore & Malaysia.

Across Southeast Asia, demand for digital services and rapid digitization has exposed a significant talent gap. According to a Korn Ferry study presented at the Digital Talent Summit 2022, there will be a labor shortage of 47 million IT professionals by 2030 in Asia-Pacific.

At the same summit, Huawei pledged to use $50 million in funding over five years to educate approximately 500,000 people in new digital technologies across Asia and the Pacific.

In a recent survey conducted in Malaysia, respondents revealed that the top two barriers to having adequate and specialized digital talent were: skills shortages in the domestic labor market and the inability to attract specialized professionals.

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