Prime Minister (PM) and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong will be delivering Singapore’s FY2026 Budget Statement in Parliament on 12 February 2026.
Ahead of the Budget, one of the key topics is the recently released Economic Strategy Review (ESR), and how the Singapore Government plans to secure good opportunities for both businesses and workers amid economic uncertainty.
According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the ESR focuses on these five areas:
- Strengthening Singapore’s global competitiveness
- Leveraging technology and innovation
- Nurturing entrepreneurship
- Enhancing human capital
- Managing the impact of restructuring
Budget 2026: Economic growth will no longer guarantee jobs
Both workers and employers will need to make big shifts, as Singapore will need to double down on industry transformation efforts so that we can build new comparative advantages, particularly in growth areas, and offer a vibrant local ecosystem for global champions to thrive in.
Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister for Trade and Industry (MTI) Gan Kim Yong noted that with automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and productivity, there will be higher value-adding industries and business activities. However, this also means with higher value-add per workers, local employers may not need as many workers.
This might cause anxiety amongst the workforce, but he said: “We will double down on our efforts to support them in their upgrading journey, so that they will be AI-ready, job ready, and future-ready.”
This is where Workforce Singapore’s Job Transformation Maps (JTMs) will help employers, Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs), training providers, job redesign consultants, unions, and individuals, prepare for future jobs and skills requirements.
Job hunt smarter, not harder. Find fresh listings every day on MyCareersFuture.
The JTMs examine how key trends such as artificial intelligence, automation, digitalisation and sustainability impact sector-specific jobs and skills. This enables them to become more productive, develop new capabilities, and new ways to collaborate effectively, within and across industries, as well as within Singapore and beyond our shores.
Since 2019, 19 JTMs have been launched, collectively covering sectors such as
- Accounting Practices
- Aviation
- Built Environment
- Environmental Services – Cleaning
- Environmental Services – Waste Management
- Finance and Accounting Services
- Financial Services
- Food Manufacturing
- Food Services
- Generative AI in Finance
- Hotel
- Human Resources
- Information and Communications
- Land Transport
- Logistics
- Retail
- Supply Chain Management
- Sustainable Finance
- Wholesale Trade
An upcoming JTM for Training and Adult Education is also in development.
As such, organising how the Government provides job and training support for local workers is crucial.
Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo, speaking at the launch of the ESR, said to The Straits Times: “There’s SkillsFuture and there’s Workforce Singapore, and they all play very important roles.
“But we want to see if there’s room for these to be a little more integrated, a little better organised so that Singaporeans and businesses find it easier to navigate.”
He believes that both fresh graduates and mid-career workers must continue building new skills while in employment.
“We should also strengthen the involvement of employers in this whole effort, so that the skills that they learn can be quite quickly and quite directly translated into good business and good productivity outcomes,” he added.
But local workers must also make a mindset shift, accepting that upskilling while working is part of our professional lives, and not just when we lose our jobs.
“When you’re working, you think about, how can I upgrade myself? When I have a good job, I still think about, what are the new skills (I need)? That’s something that’s quite different, and in order to do that, we need to think about how we can get better at organising ourselves,” DPM Gan said.
Building artificial intelligence (AI) literacy for Singapore workers
Another recommendation from the ESR the Government will be looking at is to accelerate the adoption of AI and digital transformation for our workforce.
Sharpen your hiring strategy. Get top candidates on MyCareersFuture.
“We expect the pace of change to be faster, (which) means that skills get obsolete quicker. This is where we need to double down on SkillsFuture efforts to work and learn together,” Acting Minister Neo said.
DPM Gan added that companies need to move beyond just basic AI integration, saying: “This is something we hope our businesses can embrace – so it’s not that we just use AI, but that we become part of the developers of AI solutions, and a site for these solutions to be tested, piloted, deployed and scaled… all over the world.”
DPM Gan believes that workers anxious about their unfamiliarity with AI need to see it as a signal to upskill.
The Government will look into providing end-to-end connections from such reskilling and upskilling efforts to jobs, and also improve on career transition support for displaced workers.
Bookmark this page for updates on what’s relevant for Singapore jobseekers, workers and employers, as we cover all the latest from Budget 2026, which will be delivered on 12 February 2026 at 3:30pm!
Follow us on LinkedIn for more expert career guidance and industry insights: Workforce Singapore on LinkedIn
Stay updated with the latest trends, job market shifts and career health advice from WSG.
