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Survey Report

Future of jobs and skills in Singapore’s Wholesale Trade Sector

December 3, 2021

This study focusses on the future of jobs and skills in Singapore’s Wholesale Trade Sector.
Work Transformation|Employee Experience
N/A

Enterprise Singapore (ESG) has partnered with Willis Towers Watson to study the future of jobs and skills in Singapore’s Wholesale Trade Sector. The Wholesale Trade (WST) sector is an essential pillar of Singapore’s economy, comprising of more than 50,000 organisations offering business-to-business (B2B) trading and distribution in verticals ranging from commodities to industrial and consumer products. This sector represents agricultural materials, household goods, fuels & chemicals, general merchandise, machinery & equipment and generates close to 300,000 jobs in Singapore.

As the current business landscape shifts rapidly, organisations in the WST sector will have to rethink business and operating models, adapt to new ways of working and, most importantly, focus on reskilling their workforce for the future.

Aim of the study

  • Synthesise how economic volatility, technology breakthroughs, and focus on sustainability will underpin and influence wholesale trade jobs in the future
  • Assess how jobs will change, i.e., jobs and tasks that will be displaced; those that will be augmented, and new jobs and tasks that will emerge
  • Identify skills that will be critical to performing these jobs

The study is focused on a 3 to 5 years’ time frame and aims to identify strategies to ensure that the workforce is future ready.

Key findings from the study

Accelerated technology adoption is the big change catalyst for the WST sector with 44% of organisations expecting a high level of digitalisation to impact key or all functions

New technologies that have started making their mark in the WST sector include advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence, business intelligence applications, digital marketplaces and robotic process automation

83% of WST jobs studied will undergo either a high or medium level of impact

When it comes to the type of impact, more than 80% jobs will undergo enhancement / augmentation of job scope

To fulfill higher value roles, WST professionals will need to acquire new / augmented skills. 42 such technology-led and business-led technical skills have been identified

Please complete the form to receive the detailed report. If you want to speak to a Willis Towers Watson expert around the survey results, please write to wtwmarketing@willistowerswatson.com.

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