Singapore’s new move to tackle talent crunch technology

Two key Singapore government agencies have combined to help employers tackle the worsening talent crunch in the technology industry.

The Economic Development Board and Enterprise Singapore say the new TechSG imitative will help local companies grow in Singapore, and also expand in the region.

The scheme allows for easier access to foreign talents that can work as core team members of technology companies. Organisations looking to employ such skills will have more flexibility in the application requirements for the requisite working visas of these individuals.

The pilot programme will start in the fourth quarter of this year, and will last for two years. It comes in reaction to new research that indicates Singapore does not yet have the IT talent readily available to build its ambitions “Smart Nation”-ready workforce.

More than 90% of the Singapore IT leaders surveyed by Robert Half this year, agreed that the current workforce was not able to achieve the Smart Nation goals.

Further, some 70% of hiring managers surveyed said the shortage of technology talent in Southeast Asia had negatively impacted the speed of product development in the region.