Sir, we have invested in building the infrastructure for a skills-first economy.
Tools like the Career and Skills Passport (CSP) launched in November 2024, reflect that ambition. We know that more than 700,000 individuals have accessed the Passport as of November 2025 - a good sign of uptake. But uptake does not tell us if there has been a meaningful shift in how employers evaluate and hire candidates.
Tools can change how workers present their skills, but tools alone cannot change hiring behaviour. If employers continue to hire based on degrees and past job titles, then the Passport risks becoming, as my colleague Andre described yesterday, a “digital filing cabinet”.
The evidence points to a real gap. The 2025 Skills-First Readiness and Adoption Index developed by the OECD and IAL ranked Singapore 12th out of 30 participating countries. While Singapore made meaningful progress in adopting skills-first practices, key gaps such as business adoption of skills-first hiring remained.
Relatedly, in a survey conducted by the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP), 9 in 10 respondents were confident that skills-first hiring widens their organisation’s talent pool, yet 63% of hiring managers – the people conducting interviews – said they are unfamiliar with skills-first hiring practices.
This is a capability gap, not a values problem.
The new statutory board formed by the merger of Workforce Singapore and SkillsFuture Singapore was announced as a one-stop shop for workers. I hope it can also become a transformational partner for employers. It should seek to close not just the skills-gap, but the assessment gap that sits between workers who have built a real portfolio of skills and employers who cannot yet see them.
I have two suggestions:
- First, for the new agency to develop practical toolkits that employers can use for portfolio-based assessment and skills-first hiring;
- Second, build skills-first hiring capability into the HR Industry Transformation Plan, embedded into certification pathways for all tiers of HR professionals.
