AI skills have shifted from specialist niches into mainstream hiring practices, with AI‑related job postings leaping to capture 5.3 per cent of all roles in 2025, up from 3.3 per cent the year before.
That rise represents roughly 30,000 additional listings in a labour market otherwise facing global headwinds, according to PwC’s analysis of job-posting data and government surveys.
The numbers underline a broader transformation: rather than phasing out roles, AI is reshaping them. Occupations that are more exposed to AI, where day‑to‑day tasks and core abilities overlap with AI capabilities, are seeing more job openings and a faster rate of skill turnover.
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The trend has important implications for Singapore, which aims to remain Southeast Asia’s technology and finance hub, and for neighbouring markets that look to the city‑state as a bellwether.
AI exposure correlates with job growth and skill churn
PwC’s measure of AI exposure shows a clear pattern: the greater an occupation’s exposure, the larger the number of job postings. Between 2019 and 2025, there was a +0.30 correlation between AI exposure and net skills change, suggesting that occupations more entwined with AI are also evolving fastest in terms of required competencies.
The reshaping is visible in hiring data. AI‑related roles rose to about 84,000 in 2025, an increase from the previous year, and over half of all job postings now fall within occupations with higher AI exposure. This suggests that employers are not merely replacing human tasks with automation; they are redesigning job descriptions and adding new responsibilities that include working alongside AI tools.
Public sector, finance and tech lead hiring
Sectoral analysis shows that technology, media, and telecom (TMT), government and public sector, and financial services are leading AI hiring in Singapore. These sectors also report high rates of AI adoption in surveys by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), where 18.9 per cent of firms said they were redesigning job functions and 13.9 per cent reported creating new AI roles in the first quarter of 2026.
The government and public sector, in particular, are offering large wage premiums for AI talent, with advertised wages approximately 107 per cent higher for AI‑related roles than for non‑AI roles in the same sector in 2025. Consumer Markets reported a 96 per cent premium. High premiums in lower‑volume sectors point to concentrated demand for specialised skills. In contrast, more broadly, AI‑enabled sectors show narrower pay gaps as AI becomes part of routine job requirements.
AI users, not just developers
A striking signal of mainstreaming is the concentration of demand. About 82 per cent of AI‑related job postings in Singapore are for AI user roles — non‑specialist or hybrid positions that require working fluency with AI tools — rather than for developers. AI user roles accounted for approximately +26,000 of the increase in postings, while developer roles added around +4,200 in 2025 versus the prior year.
This split shows employers favouring a model where AI augments existing workforces rather than remaining the preserve of elite engineering teams. For Southeast Asia’s startups and fast‑scaling firms, that means hiring managers will increasingly prioritise candidates who can blend domain expertise with practical proficiency in AI tools, rather than recruiting only core machine‑learning engineers.
Policy and upskilling: Singapore’s push and regional spillovers
Singapore’s policy moves in 2026, from a National AI Council to dedicated AI missions and an AI Impact Programme, underpin this labour market shift. Those initiatives aim to boost adoption across sectors and encourage workforce upskilling. As organisations transition from pilots to scaled deployments, the demand for job redesign and structured reskilling will only ratchet up.
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For the region, Singapore’s policy and market signals matter. Regional governments and corporations often benchmark against Singapore, and multinational firms based in the city serve as hubs for talent and investment that spill over into Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. Startups in those markets could both benefit and face talent competition as Singapore firms soak up AI‑literate candidates and pay premiums for specialised roles.
What this means for startups and talent markets
For startups across the region, several practical consequences follow:
- Hiring strategy: Expect competition for AI‑literate generalists. Startups will need clearer role definitions that combine domain knowledge with AI fluency and may have to offer training pathways rather than expecting fully formed skills.
- Costs and pricing: As wage premiums persist for specialised AI roles, early‑stage firms may face higher personnel costs or choose to outsource AI development to contractors and partner firms in lower‑cost markets.
- Upskilling and retention: Investing in internal reskilling programmes could become a cost‑effective alternative to poaching senior AI talent, especially where long‑term cultural fit and domain expertise are critical.
- Product roadmaps: Startups that embed AI into their core propositions, not merely as an add‑on feature, will be better positioned to attract customers and talent in an ecosystem where AI capability signals competitive parity.
Risk and governance
As roles proliferate, governance becomes central. PwC highlights AI governance frameworks as one way to manage risk and foster trusted deployments. For Southeast Asian firms, adopting governance standards early could reduce regulatory friction and build user trust across markets where consumer privacy and algorithmic fairness are growing concerns.
The regional picture
Singapore’s labour market is the most visible example in the study, but the underlying dynamics are relevant across Southeast Asia. Countries with maturing digital economies will see similar shifts, albeit tempered by local talent supply, wage structures and policy timelines. For regional policymakers and startup founders, the imperative is clear: investing in reskilling and responsible AI practices now will determine who captures the productivity gains of the next wave.
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