In this chapter, the movement trends of the updated set of Priority skills from the Care, Digital, and Green economies were analysed using historical data from 2022 to 2024. A four-quadrant Skills Matrix was used to enhance the insights on the change in skills demand and transferability. The analysis also forecasted the demand of the Priority Skills in the next 12 months. Finally, the chapter concludes by highlighting eleven skills to watch for in the three economies.
The Skills Matrix is a framework that locates the momentum of change of respective priority skills based on their demand and transferability trends.
A data point, for each year of a given skill, was categorised into the following quadrants:
- In-demand
- Up-and-coming
- Niche
- Transferable
This categorisation provides readers a clearer perspective of skills demand and transferability tempo across the years.
71 skills were consistently in high demand and were highly transferable across the three years. This trend is expected to continue in 2025.
From 2022 to 2024, a total of 71 skills, or 18% of 398 skills across the three economies, maintained their position in the In-demand quadrant. This trend is expected to continue into 2025. Skills that exhibit such characteristics — high demand and transferability — remain highly sought-after due to business demand.
Within the Care Economy, 19 skills were in the In-demand quadrant from 2022 to 2024. This trend is expected to continue into 2025.
19 skills, or about 18% of 107 skills in this economy, were identified to be in the In-demand quadrant in the past three years. Among them, two were selected for illustration.
Effective Client Communication
This skill is important in job roles like administration managers, accountants, and marketing managers. It is also essential in effective healthcare services delivery to ensure up-to-date physical and digital communication channels1.
Learning and Development
Job roles requiring this skill include preschool teachers, web and mobile application developers, and administration managers. This skill has increased in importance due to greater adoption of EdTech platforms, enabling borderless learning, and GenAI chatbots, accelerating the pace of learning2.
Within the Digital Economy, 40 skills were in the In-demand quadrant from 2022 to 2024. This trend is expected to continue into 2025.
40 skills, or about 16% of 244 skills in this economy, were identified to be in the In-demand quadrant in the past three years. Among them, two were selected for illustration.
Customer Experience Management
Job roles requiring this skill include customer service officers, marketing managers and after-sales advisers. This skill is increasingly important as businesses pursue personalised customer service3 and quality customer experiences to differentiate themselves from their competitors4.
Market Trend Analysis
Job roles requiring this skill include marketing managers, marketing and sales executives, and business development executives. This is a skill required to uncover deeper insights about customers, competitors, and market trends.
Within the Green Economy, 12 skills were in the In-demand quadrant from 2022 to 2024. This trend is expected to continue into 2025.
12 skills, or about 26% of 47 skills, in this economy were identified to be in the In-demand quadrant in the past three years. Among them, two were selected for illustration.
Sustainability Management
Job roles requiring the skill include premises and facilities maintenance managers, business consultants, and business and financial project managers. This skill is crucial for organisational strategies, resource utilisation assessments, and identifying efficiency improvements.
Sustainable Engineering
Business and financial project managers, mechanical engineers, and environmental engineers are some job roles that demand this skill. This skill is vital for designing and operating systems that optimise energy use and environmental performance.
The Singapore Green Plan 20305 continues to drive sustained demand for skills that collectively support sustainability initiatives in the green economy.
37 skills moved from moderate to high transferability in 2024. This trend is expected to continue into 2025.
A total of 37 skills, or about 9% of 398 skills across the three economies, crossed the 70th percentile mark between 2022 and 2023, and were in the In-demand and Transferable quadrants in 2024. This trend is expected to continue into 2025. While majority of skills were generally increasing in transferability, these identified skills were more widely adopted compared to other priority skills across various job roles.
Within the Care Economy, 9 skills moved from moderate to high transferability.
9 skills, or about 8% of 107 skills, crossed the 70th percentile mark between 2022 and 2023 in terms of transferability, attributable to an increase in skills application across job roles in the economy. Among them, two were selected for illustration.
Conflict Management
Job roles requiring this skill include project managers, HR managers, and business consultants. This skill is increasingly important as workplace conflicts are on the rise, driven by labour market globalisation, economic fluctuations, and organisational restructuring6.
Continuous Improvement Management
This skill is demanded in job roles such as logistics or production planners, accountants, and procurement managers. This skill is gaining importance as more companies are adopting AI to improve business efficiency7.
Within the Digital Economy, 26 skills moved from moderate to high transferability.
26 skills, or about 11% of 244 skills, crossed the 70th percentile mark an increase in skills application across job roles in the economy. Among them, Data Governance was selected for illustration.
This skill progressed from the Niche quadrant to the Transferable quadrant and is projected to remain so in 2025.
Job roles requiring this skill include data analysts, database architects, and business consultants. Enterprises have become reliant on data to inform decision-making, processes, and operations. As data protection regulations and enforcement become more stringent over the years8, this skill is needed for organisations to keep up with these evolving standards and frameworks.
With the prevalent use of data in business that permeates across the organisation, even non-tech job roles such as sales managers, financial derivatives dealers, and hotel operations managers will increasingly require this skill.
Within the Green Economy, 2 skills moved from moderate to high transferability.
2 skills, or about 4% of 47 skills, crossed the 70th percentile mark between 2022 and 2023 in terms of transferability, attributable to an increase in skills application across job roles in the economy. Among them, Sustainability Assurance was selected for illustration.
This skill progressed from the Niche quadrant to the Transferable quadrant and is projected to remain so in 2025.
Job roles requiring this skill include premises and facilities maintenance managers, business consultants, and business and financial project managers.
Singapore’s mandate for climate-related disclosures — starting from 2025 for listed firms and 2027 for large non-listed firms9—underscores this shift. Organisations increasingly require Sustainability Assurance experts who can evaluate and verify the accuracy, relevance, and completeness of corporate sustainability reporting. This expertise is becoming crucial for companies aiming to comply with evolving reporting requirements and demonstrate their commitment to environmental goals, social responsibilities, and financial performance.
34 skills are forecasted to become highly transferable in 2025.
A total of 34 skills, or about 9% of 398 skills across the three economies, are forecasted to cross the 70th percentile mark in terms of their transferability in 2025 after being in the same quadrant for the past three years. On the other hand, 309 skills, or about 78% of 398 skills, stayed in the same quadrant between 2022 and 2024, and were forecasted to remain.
Within the Care Economy, 7 skills are expected to become highly transferable in 2025.
7 skills, or about 7% of 107 skills, were consistently in the same quadrant across the past three years. However, these skills are projected to change quadrants in 2025. Among them, Organisational Design was selected for illustration.
Between 2022 and 2024, Organisational Design remained in the Niche quadrant but is projected to progress into the Transferable quadrant.
Job roles requiring this skill include administration managers, HR managers, and software developers. This skill is increasingly important to support greater adoption of hybrid work models10 and transition toward agile and flexible organisational structures that decentralises the responsibility for organisational design from central departments to business units and line managers.
Within the Digital Economy, 24 skills are expected to become highly transferable in 2025.
24 skills, or about 10% of 244 skills, were consistently in the same quadrant across the past three years. However, these skills are projected to change quadrants in 2025. Among them, Cyber and Data Breach Incident Management was selected for illustration.
In 2024, the skill was in the Up-and-coming quadrant. In the coming year, it is projected to progress into the In-demand quadrant.
Job roles requiring this skill include IT support technicians, cyber risk specialists, and IT infrastructure specialists. This skill helps employees to detect, trigger alerts, and resolve incidents. The number of data breaches continues to be on the rise and cyber threats are evolving with the help of large language models11. Attacks can also be carried out against cloud infrastructure, or use stolen credentials, and disguise their activities as legitimate12. Organisations will need to improve on how these incidents are identified, reported and dealt with effectively in the face of increasing threats. As cyber incidents proliferate, roles beyond IT security – such as web and mobile developers, financial analysts, and consultants – will also need this skill to help prevent or swiftly mitigate potential damage.
Within the Green Economy, 3 skills are expected to become highly transferable in 2025.
3 skills, or about 6% of 47 skills, were consistently in the same quadrant across the past three years. However, these skills are projected to change quadrants in 2025. Among them, Green Facilities Management was selected for illustration.
In 2024, Green Facilities Management was in the Up-and-coming quadrant. In the coming year, it is projected to progress into the In-demand quadrant.
Job roles requiring this skill include mechanical engineers, business and financial project managers, and restaurant managers.
The growth is driven by three megatrends:
- Global decarbonisation: Increased demand for sustainable buildings in Singapore and Asia Pacific13,14, requiring this skill for eco-friendly infrastructure and efficient operations.
- Technological advancements: Improved viability of green buildings through reduced embodied carbon and enhanced efficiency15, using smart systems, IoT, and AI for energy monitoring.
- Recognised16 benefits: Wider acknowledgement of green buildings’ advantages, including lower operational costs, higher property values, and improved employee productivity, further driving demand for this skill.
Featuring 11 skills poised to capture greater demand and transferability in the future.
The Skills Matrix has been central in this chapter to showcase skill movement trends. This section moves away from data-driven insights to uncover 11 skills across three economies. While these skills did not have substantive local job posting data to exhibit prominent transferability and demand characteristics, they are poised to capture greater demand and transferability in the future.
- Ethical Conduct and
Professional Integrity
In the Care Economy, Ethical Conduct and Professional Integrity is a skill needed to navigate new areas of ethical dilemmas amidst societal and technological advances17. With technology integration leading to more sharing of personal data, there is a greater need for professionals to exercise this skill to uphold the quality of care, prevent the misuse of client data, ensure client confidentiality, and maintain trust18. Job roles requiring this skill include human resource managers, nurses, and health services managers.
- Use of Generative AI Models
- Ethical and Governance Considerations in Generative AI
- Core Principles of Generative AI
- Prompt Engineering
- Generative AI Evaluation
- Generative AI Model Development
- Advanced Generative AI Technology
- Application Development of Generative AI Models
In the Digital Economy, inaccuracy, intellectual property infringement19, and low-quality output20 are among the top risks of using GenAI. Broad-based skills that AI-users need to mitigate these risks are:
- Use of Generative AI Models
- Ethical and Governance Considerations in Generative AI
- Core Principles of Generative AI
- Prompt Engineering
AI users (enterprises and general workforce) who are equipped to use AI-powered products and services to increase productivity, and pursue better jobs and more impactful work21, will require such skills to ensure responsible, transparent, and accountable usage of AI technologies.
As the area of GenAI continues to evolve rapidly, specialised GenAI skills will be used to apply more types of solutions regularly across a broad range of areas such as IT, Research, and Engineering. These specialised skills which develop and integrate AI models and processes are:
- Generative AI Evaluation
- Generative AI Model Development
- Advanced Generative AI Technology
- Application Development of Generative AI Models
Compared to the more general usage of GenAI skills, AI practitioners (tech workers) with the skillsets to create, implement, and deploy AI systems, models, and algorithms in organisations, at scale23, will need these skillsets to lead GenAI research and deploy GenAI systems.
- Greenhouse Gas Accounting
- Carbon Footprint Management
In the Green Economy, growing climate concerns24, stricter regulations, and consumer demands and emphasis on sustainability will drive the importance of these skills. Greenhouse Gas Accounting quantifies emissions and Carbon Footprint Management uses this data to reduce environmental impact. Together, they enable organisations to measure emissions, develop strategies, comply with regulations, and meet stakeholder expectations25. Professionals in management and compliance, particularly sustainability officers and analysts, will need these skills to adapt to a low-carbon economy.
