Manufacturing and healthcare are projected to lead Singapore’s workforce expansion through 2031, but ServiceNow’s 2026 Workforce Skills Forecast suggests the country’s growth will depend as much on leadership and coordination as on technical coding capability. Manufacturing is expected to add approximately 16,000 roles, while healthcare is forecast to grow by 5.8%, or about 12,000 roles.
Telecommunications, media and technology is projected to add around 8,000 roles, while retail employment is expected to contract by approximately 2,000.
Skills shift in growth sectors
Within manufacturing, leadership is projected to record the largest increase in the number of workers using the skill, alongside growth in project management, problem solving, collaboration, analytical skills and Python.
In healthcare, project management is expected to see the largest increase, accompanied by leadership, collaboration, Python, stakeholder engagement and communication.
The findings indicate that as Singapore’s manufacturing and healthcare sectors expand, they will require workers who can manage complex programmes, coordinate multidisciplinary teams and translate technical capability into operational outcomes.
Across the wider workforce, specialised data and technology skills — led by extract, transform and load (ETL), data governance and artificial intelligence — are projected to grow fastest in percentage terms by 2031. Project management, leadership, Python and collaboration are each expected to record approximately 2,000 additional workers using those skills.
AI maturity gap
The skills forecast complements ServiceNow’s Singapore Enterprise AI Maturity Index, which found that agentic AI adoption among Singapore enterprises more than doubled from 22% in 2025 to 51% in 2026. However, only 10% of enterprises have redesigned processes so that AI can complete multi-step business tasks end to end.
Singapore’s overall AI maturity score rose 19 points to 53 out of 100 in 2026, above the global average of 51. Yet the country trails the global average on AI-enabled workflows — the dimension that converts AI investment into business returns.
CK Tan, ServiceNow’s Asia-Pacific and Japan innovation officer, said adoption and transformation are not the same thing.
“Helping individuals work faster has value. Redesigning how work moves across the enterprise is where AI starts to change business outcomes.” CK Tan
Investment must reach operations
Singapore enterprises increased AI budgets by 108% year on year, with 15.4% of IT budgets allocated to AI. They are also ahead of global peers in modernising legacy systems, establishing AI risk-management processes and integrating AI workflows across business functions.
Despite this progress, 58% of Singapore enterprises cited data privacy and security as a top AI challenge. Tan said organisations should put oversight and risk processes in place before AI systems operate at scale.
The combined findings suggest Singapore’s next productivity challenge is organisational rather than purely technical: enterprises will need leaders and project managers who can redesign workflows, govern AI deployment and coordinate people, data and automation across the business.
