Singapore’s big workforce shift: AI and the JSSEZ are redrawing the map AURORATOTO GROUP

JOHOR BAHRU/SINGAPORE: Artificial intelligence (AI) and the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JSSEZ) will redefine Singapore’s workforce, and workforce consultant Ives Tay argues that with the right approach, Singapore can ride a new wave of growth.

These two major developments — AI, a tech force, and the JSSEZ, a geographic one — will reshape how Singaporeans work, compete, and earn.

“The challenge isn’t just reskilling workers,” says Tay, who specialises in organisational strategy. Earlier in his career, he spent seven years as a principal manager at Singapore’s Workforce Development Agency (WDA), now SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG).

“We need to redesign systems so that workers, firms, and policymakers move in step. If managed well, AI and the SEZ aren’t threats — they’re twin multipliers of Singapore’s next stage of growth.”

AI’s impact

For Tay, AI’s impact on Singapore’s labour scene is beyond automation. Rather than simply replacing repetitive work or narrowing the scope of junior work, it’s redefining entire functions across industries as general-purpose tech.

“Jobs are shifting from labour-intensive to judgment-intensive,” Tay explains. “The winners will be workers who can interpret insights, manage systems, and make ethical calls.”

Whether it’s finance, logistics, healthcare, or manufacturing verticals, AI has a dual impact. It’s not only streamlining operations. At the same time, it’s driving demand for higher-value roles — data strategists, product designers, AI governance specialists, and systems integrators.

This creates a new baseline, Tay stresses, that is technical literacy and being comfortable working alongside AI systems. But the real challenge? Tay observes: “The challenge is not technical—it is psychological and structural”.

The three obstacles Tay sees are:

• Mental inertia: Many believe past credentials still guarantee future security.
• Information gaps: Workers often realise too late how fast their roles are evolving.
• Employer underinvestment: Firms prefer hiring new talent for skills over retraining and upskilling current staff.

Tay shares: “Preparation means building a portfolio of capabilities, refreshed continuously, not a one-off certificate.”

Policymakers and businesses are racing to invest in AI tools, but what workers face is an entirely different set of challenges. For Tay? The biggest hurdles are mindset, information gaps, and employer underinvestment:

• Mindset inertia: Many workers believe past credentials guarantee future security.
• Information gaps: Employees often realise too late how quickly roles are evolving.
• Employer underinvestment: Too many firms prefer hiring new skills instead of reskilling existing teams.

Tay warns against relying on a single qualification to stay employable. Rather, it’s about building a portfolio of evolving capabilities and keeping these updated.

JSSEZ: Changing the way Singaporeans work and earn

AI is transforming how work is done, but the JSSEZ? It reshapes where work gets done. Designed to make cross-border mobility seamless, the JSSEZ forges Singapore and Johor into a single economic ecosystem, much like Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

The real effect for Singaporean firms? This means faster scaling and access to lower-cost, high-skilled talent just across the Causeway in Johor.

Tay’s view? He explains: “The SEZ will make cross-border work seamless. Singaporeans will compete and collaborate with Johor talent in real time. This opens up opportunities in leadership, coordination, and innovation, areas where Singapore workers can hold a premium.”

However, there’s a trade-off in how the JSSEZ doesn’t benefit everyone equally. For instance, DBS already sees Johor racing ahead of the rest of Malaysia, as well as Singapore, growth-wise. In fact, Johor accounted for 30% of all investments in Malaysia for the first half of 2025.

Two structural risks that Tay notes Singapore is exposed to are:

1. Wage compression: Lower-value, routine work may shift to Johor, reducing bargaining power for mid-skilled Singaporeans.
2. Hollowing out: If too many mid-level functions migrate, Singapore could be left with only high-level management and low-value entry roles.

“The danger is a weaker middle class,” Tay warns. To avoid that, Tay’s solution is to create new, high-value roles in Singapore that cannot be easily relocated.

Singapore SMEs and the next 3–5 years

For Singapore’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the next few years are critical. At the larger scale, Tay proposes a three-step approach to integrate AI and leverage the JSSEZ without destabilising the workforce:

• Audit task exposure: Identify which roles AI can substitute
• Redeploy, don’t just replace: Helping workers transition into adjacent functions.
• AI-human pairing: Build hybrid teams and test collaborative workflows to know what works before scaling.

Tay explains: “Automation cuts costs. But human-AI collaboration creates value. That is the real edge”.

Fostering system thinkers

When Tay steps back and looks 10 to 20 years ahead, he reckons Singapore’s education establishment and training systems must fundamentally retool themselves. Three priorities he highlights:

1. Curriculum redesign: Shift away from rote learning toward creative problem-solving approaches.
2. Assessment models: Replace static exams with real-world projects that mirror workplace demands.
3. School-industry partnerships: Create “living labs” where students and companies can co-develop solutions to live challenges.

Tay explains: “Singapore’s edge won’t come from producing the most coders. It will come from producing system thinkers who can harness AI responsibly.”

Johor: The partner, not a substitute

As Singaporean firms expand into the JSSEZ, Tay emphasises a simple principle: don’t offshore everything.

“Treat Johor as a complement, not a substitute,” he advises. “Use the SEZ for capacity, but keep direction, R&D, and customer innovation in Singapore. The model is: operations in Johor, strategy in Singapore.”

The winning model? Tay sees Singapore firms keeping the strategic parts of their business in Singapore while basing operational elements out of Johor.

The policy angle

For the JSSEZ to work long term, though? Tay highlights how policymakers on both sides must coordinate policies, rather than compete. Three critical levers Tay sees are:

1. Clear rules: Establish clarity on labour mobility, taxation, and dispute resolution.
2. Joint training programmes: Align cross-border skills development so talent can move fluidly.
3. Sectoral focus: Target industries where Singapore retains a structural premium, such as fintech, biotech, and advanced manufacturing.

“Without steering, the SEZ risks a race to the bottom,” Tay cautions. “With discipline, it can be a model of  shared growth.”

Going further, Tay sees AI and the JSSEZ as different sides of the same coin. He observes: “AI and the SEZ are two multipliers: one boosts productivity, the other expands markets.”

Rather than treat them as separate trends, Tay sees them being used as complementary levers. To maximise both, Tay hopes to see integrated planning by the governments on both sides.

This way, alignments in education policy, digital transformation, and cross-border agreements make for a unified workforce strategy. “Singapore has always thrived on coherence,” Tay notes. “AI and the SEZ need to be managed as one equation.”

The bottom line

It looks like Singapore’s workforce will have to navigate choppy waters for the rest of the 2020s as technological acceleration meets cross-border integration. The dual forces of AI and the JSSEZ will test not only workers’ adaptability but also the nation’s ability to align business, education, and policy.

For workforce consultants like Tay, who’ve got a vested interest in what happens next, his message is clear: “The future of work in Singapore cannot be left to chance. AI and the SEZ will test not only our workers, but also our capacity to align business, education, and policy.”

The role of Tay and those like him? He explains: “We cut through noise. Our role is to bring: clarity — mapping real job shifts, not buzzwords; design — building transition pathways, not just courses; and accountability – ensuring commitments lead to measurable outcomes.”

“We translate between policy, business, and worker reality. Without that bridge, strategy stays theory”, he adds.

Summing up his view, Tay notes: “The future of work in Singapore cannot be left to chance. AI and the SEZ will test not only our workers, but also our capacity to align business, education, and policy.”

“My role — and the role of consultants like me — is to bridge these worlds so strategies become action. With clarity, discipline, and shared responsibility, Singapore can turn disruption into direction.”