Singapore firms face AI workforce gap despite rising adoption, Accenture says

Accenture says 90% of Singapore organizations are implementing AI, but only one in three has aligned its talent and AI strategies.

Singaporean enterprises are deploying artificial intelligence across business functions, but many have not aligned those investments with workforce planning, according to a new Accenture report.

The report, Singapore's Growth Mandate: Why the AI future will be won or lost on people, not technology, is based on four research streams conducted between December 2025 and February 2026. It examines AI adoption, labor market changes, entry-level roles, employee trust, and the role of business leaders in work redesign.

Accenture said 90% of organizations surveyed have moved beyond AI awareness and exploration into implementation. One in two has deployed generative AI in specific business units, while 73% are experimenting with or exploring agentic AI.

The report found a weaker level of progress on workforce planning. Only one in three organizations has a talent strategy fully aligned with its AI strategy, while 46% of technology leaders said their company has not yet addressed the redesign of job roles or responsibilities.

Accenture also linked workforce-focused AI programs to stronger business outcomes. Organizations that placed people at the center of AI transformation in 2025 recorded revenue growth 1.8 percentage points higher and profit growth 1.4 percentage points higher than their peers, according to the report.

The findings are framed against Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's Budget 2026 call for "no jobless growth" in the AI era. Accenture said the implementation of that goal will depend partly on how companies redesign work, reskill employees, and build trust during AI deployment.

Entry-level roles face skills reset

The report said Singapore's labor market is showing signs of role upgrading rather than broad job collapse. Entry-level postings rebounded 8% in 2025, but the skills required for those roles have changed.

Entry-level ICT job postings saw the steepest decline among occupation groups from the post-COVID peak, falling 38% between 2022 and 2025. At the same time, demand for skills in AI, machine learning, and data management increased in technology roles.

Accenture described the trend as a move away from routine, repeatable tasks toward roles that combine domain knowledge, analytical reasoning, and the use of technology. The report said this reflects a broader shift toward skills-based hiring, where job value is tied more closely to specific capabilities than job titles.

The report also found gaps in AI readiness among young workers. While 95% of young Singaporeans said the country's ambition to lead in AI is achievable, only 31% strongly agreed that this ambition is people-centric.

Among entry-level workers, 81% reported beginner-level or no understanding of prompt engineering. The same was true for 80% on AI ethics and governance.

Many entry-level workers are already using AI tools, but mainly for common productivity tasks. Accenture found that 78% use AI for research, 61% for writing and editing, and 50% for basic data analysis.

The report also pointed to concerns over skills relevance. Among young workers surveyed, 45% said they were worried about keeping up with the pace of AI change, while 38% feared being displaced by someone with stronger AI skills.

Trust remains a barrier

Employee trust remains another constraint. Only 23% of Singaporean employees said they trust their employer to act in their best interest when introducing AI.

Accenture said 47% of employees identified a lack of leadership support as the biggest barrier to effective AI upskilling. By contrast, its Pulse of Change research found that 83% of employees globally trust their organizations and leaders to invest in AI in ways that benefit both employees and the enterprise.

Accenture sets out CEO priorities

The report set out three priorities for Singapore CEOs. It said leaders should treat AI as a redesign of work, reconsider how entry-level roles are structured, and build organizational capabilities that support AI use in day-to-day work.

Mark Tham, country managing director for Singapore at Accenture, said Singapore's AI progress will depend on workforce readiness as much as technology adoption.

"Singapore's AI future will not be won or lost on algorithms or the latest technology, but on our ability to equip people, redesign work and build trust," he said. "Business leaders must elevate their talent strategies to an equal, if not greater imperative than technology adoption."

Grace Yip, strategy and consulting lead for health and public service in Singapore at Accenture, said the country's "no jobless growth" ambition will depend on decisions made inside companies.

"It will be decided inside firms, where CEOs choose whether AI is just a cost play or a people-first growth strategy," she said.