\n<\/p>\n
This can also explain the “paradox” of the more highly educated and skilled finding it harder to re-enter the job market after retrenchment, while those with less education and skills find it easier to get comparable jobs, according to Assoc Prof Theseira.<\/p>\n
An important indicator is the percentage of retrenched workers who are able to re-enter the job market within six months after losing their job. This re-entry rate has risen for two consecutive quarters.<\/p>\n
Degree holders’ re-entry rate of 58.3 per cent lags behind the 60.7 per cent overall re-entry rate for retrenched resident workers in Q1 2026.<\/p>\n
It is also lower than that of retrenched workers with secondary school (60.4 per cent) and diploma and professional (69.4 per cent) qualifications, though above that of workers educated below secondary school level (57.6 per cent).<\/p>\n
Almost a year into his job search, Mr Neo has applied for close to 180 jobs but not received any offers.<\/p>\n
Although he is open to junior positions and a correspondingly lower salary, in a few instances when he applied for such roles, recruiters told him they did not know where to place him.<\/p>\n
At the other end of the spectrum, he has noticed that highly experienced AI-related engineering roles are in demand, but require advanced skills he estimated would take years to hone, by which time those skills might already be obsolete.<\/p>\n
Adding to that, Mr Neo\u2019s sense was that companies that have open positions may not hire for them if they are able to trudge along without filling the vacancy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that I\u2019m not getting job interviews, it\u2019s just that things are changing so rapidly right now in this environment that everybody is tightening their purses,\u201d he said<\/p>\n
The lower re-entry rate for degree holders may be because higher-earning workers have built up more wealth and savings, buying time to consider their next career moves, while lower-earning workers may be forced to take the next available job out of necessity, said Assoc Prof Theseira.<\/p>\n
But other structural factors might also explain this.<\/p>\n
The specialisation of higher-skilled jobs, particularly for older workers, makes it much less likely that similar jobs requiring the same specialisations exist, especially if the entire industry is shifting, said the labour economist.<\/p>\n
“On the other hand, workers with lower skills tend to have less desirable jobs, but because the returns to their skills are lower, they also have a wider range of comparable opportunities,” he said.<\/p>\n
This view was echoed by those involved in AI skills training for workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiploma and trade-trained workers tend to occupy roles with stronger physical, relational or applied components,\u201d which are augmented rather than replaced by AI, said Mr Tan Weng Han, head of policy and partnerships at training outfit Vertical Institute.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir roles are also more standardised and transferable, meaning there are more similar openings to move into when displacement happens. The demand is always there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Tan added that those who entered the workforce through \u201ccompetency-based pathways\u201d such as the polytechnics, Institutes of Technical Education and professional qualifications \u201cwere never given the luxury of an ultimate credential\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey learned on the job, proved capability through applied output, and built a habit of iterative skill acquisition from the start,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat habit is now having a structural advantage in a market where employers are increasingly asking \u2018can I train this person to use a new tool?\u2019 rather than \u2018what did this person graduate with?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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HARDER TO RE-ENTER JOB MARKET? This can also explain the “paradox” of the more highly educated and skilled finding it harder to re-enter the job…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--YxktSKEW--\/c_crop,h_900,w_1600,x_0,y_130\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_mediacorp:cna:watermark:2021-08:cna,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/06\/22\/20240215_bk_worker_generic_7_1.jpg?itok=pSpFiL4a","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25262,353,4378,16572,377,6182,17136,1890],"class_list":["post-63016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-assumption","tag-challenges","tag-data","tag-degree","tag-experts","tag-job","tag-retrenchment","tag-security","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/63017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}