APIC ’07: Singapore faces crippling skills shortage

18 May 2007 11:41  [Source: ICIS news]

TAIPEI (ICIS news)--Singapore’s petrochemicals industry faces a manpower shortage with new projects in the Middle East having drained as many as 100,000 trained engineers from the city state over the last few years, the vice chairman of an industry association said on Friday.

 

“Singapore is facing huge human resource issues as it sees about 10-30% turnover of qualified engineers yearly,” said Lawrence Cheung of the Singapore Chemistry Industry Council (SCIC) at the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in Taipei.

 

“The SCIC has been in discussions with the government about this problem. But running a chemical factory is different from running a toy factory,” Cheung said.

 

The country only has a population of about 4.5m with virtually no natural resources and relies mainly on its people as a valuable economic engine.

 

Over the long term, education was one of the solutions to getting more qualified engineers on board, Cheung added.

 

Another way to resolve the skills shortage was to attract foreigners, he said. For instance, the SCIC had set up a “big talent centre in India” to train the right people for employment, Cheung added.

 

But in the end it might boil down to dollars and cents, he said, adding an engineer in Dubai commanded a high salary and that "means we have to pay our engineers even more".

 

 

By: Jeanne Lim
+65 6780 4359

< previous article(VIDEO - ICIS news Europe Lunchtime Bulletin 27 October 2009)

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly