Singapore firms could add up to $29,065 to highly-skilled workers' pay

Talent shortages for these kinds of workers could hit 38% in 2030.

As massive talent shortage looms on a global scale, salary premiums in Singapore, along with Hong Kong, could rise by more than 10% of their 2017 GDP in order to keep high-demand and high-skilled labourers, consulting firm Korn Ferry revealed.

According to its Salary Surge study, employers in Singapore could pay an extra $29,065 per year by 2030. Those in Hong Kong could pay as much as $40,539, whilst those in Australia could pay $28,625. By 2025, Singapore could have one of the largest wage premiums at US$34b. “Even if major economies can expect the highest wage premiums (like the US at US$400b in 2025), smaller markets with limited workforces will feel the most pressure,” Korn Ferry said.

The term "wage premium" refers to the additional salary employers will need to pay above normal inflation increases to secure the right talent.

Also read: Singapore could lose up to $142.51b from talent crunch

Singapore’s skilled talent shortages as a proportion of total demand could hit 13% in 2020, go up by 26% in 2025, and hit as high as 38% in 2030. All projections were higher than the global averages of 7%, 11%, and 16%.

According to the study, top executives are already sourced internationally, especially by “tiger economies” such as Singapore and Hong Kong. “As skilled talent will soon be in short supply globally, companies are likely to consider casting the net farther afield at the professional level, too,” it added.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia