PMET employment growth higher for locals than foreigners: Lim Swee Say

Singapore's approach of treating fair employers differently from those with unfair hiring practices has boosted the number of local professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) over the past three years, said Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say last night.

From 2014 to last year, the employment of local PMETs grew by 105,000 - more than six times the growth in employment of Employment Pass (EP) holders of 17,000.

Including S Pass holders, the number of foreign PMETs working here grew by 36,000 over that period. This is a reversal from the trend in 2011 to 2013, when the total growth of EP and S Pass holders was higher than that of local PMETs, he said.

Mr Lim was speaking at an awards dinner by the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) Singapore, where he held up the finance sector as a major contributor to economic growth and job creation - with a healthy local share of PMET jobs.

More than eight in 10 of its PMET positions are filled by local staff - Singaporeans and permanent residents - he said.

Among the Singapore arms of global banks, local staff can make up as many as 90 per cent of PMET workers.

Monetary Association of Singapore managing director Ravi Menon said creating a workforce that has the digital skills and relevant knowledge is key to the future of the financial services sector.

Mr Menon said one initiative to ensure these future-ready skills are developed comes in the form of new standards from the Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore (IBF) that were announced yesterday.

The standards focus on areas like data science, human-centred design, tools for innovation, agile approaches to technology, and risk and governance in a digital world.

"These are the skills our professionals will need to thrive and grow in a digital future. They will complement the domain expertise unique to industry segments," noted Mr Menon, who is also IBF chairman.

- THE STRAITS TIMES

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