More Than 72% of Asian Workers Willing to Retrain for a New Job Role

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 3
June 2021 – A new report based on the study Decoding
Global Career Shifts states that 72 per cent of Asian workers are willing
to retrain for new jobs in any case as they look towards the aftermath of the
pandemic. On top of that,
another 25 per cent said that they are willing to retrain should the
need arise. A total of 66,624 respondents in Asia — out of 209,000 participants
across 190 countries — took part in the study.

Of
the 72 per cent of respondents who are willing to retrain in any case, most of them
work in the Manual Work & Manufacturing (75.87%); Digitalisation
& Automation (75.72%); and Customer Service (75.68%) industries. Those
aged between 21 and 50 are the keenest to retrain, and
IT & Technology (26.58%), Digitalization & Automation (25.10%) and
Administration & Secretarial (19.25%) roles appeal most to them.

The
study is conducted in partnership with SEEK Asia (the parent company of
JobStreet), Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and The Network. It is the third release
in a series of publications focusing on the pandemic’s impact on worker
preferences and expectations. The data gathered for Decoding Global Career
Shifts provides insights into worker preferences by gender, age, education
level, level of digital skill, and position in the job hierarchy.

Automation
perceived as a threat to one’s job security

The
economic uncertainty brought on by the pandemic comes at a time when workers in
just about every field already
have some level of concern about being replaced by technology. Over 49 percent of
workers in Asia have become more concerned about automation during the
pandemic. According to the survey, four of the top five countries where workers
are concerned about being replaced by technology are Asian countries. They are
as follows: Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.   

Workers
in the Financial Institutions (54.89%) as well as Insurance (54.50%), Telecommunications
(53.96%), Technology (53.58%) Public (50.47%) and Industrial Goods (50.12%) sectors
are most concerned about the threat of automation. Those holding job roles such
as law; sales; engineering & technical; and health and medicine are
generally less concerned.

Workers
are actively developing new skills

In
the past year, workers have been taking steps to upgrade their skills. This
perhaps has to do with their realisation that job security is no longer a
guarantee in this ever-changing world, and that their employability depends on
their skill sets. 34.24 per cent of workers said that they have spent
significant time (few months per year or more) learning while 29.37 per cent
said they have spent a few weeks a year doing so. On-the-job training (73.92%),
self-study (56.98%) and online educational institutions (46.29%) are the top
three most popular resources they used to train and develop new skills.

For the full report,
please visit: https://www.jobstreet.com.sg/en/cms/employer/decodingglobaltalent