Singapore’s stable unemployment figures are healthy, but beneath them hides a deep crisis in our workforce. While recent data for Q3 2025 shows stable unemployment, a startling 70% of employed young Singaporeans are actively or passively looking for new opportunities.
Simultaneously, fresh graduates face a demoralising job hunt, sending hundreds of applications and potentially receiving one lowball offer in return. This isn’t youthful job-hopping; it’s a rational search for stability. This distress is compounded by a suspicion that many job listings are for show, fuelling a crisis of faith in the system.
While it’s easier to blame the slow economy, the reality points to a dual challenge, which is a gap in traditional education and a crisis of instability in industries that graduates are meant to join.
Dual Problems in Education and Industry
The Singaporean education system is world-class at building technical skills, but it often prioritises a linear progression of milestones marked by rote learning and perfect grades over the development of essential soft skills. This can leave even the brightest graduates unprepared for the real world, lacking the resilience, emotional intelligence, and adaptive thinking required to thrive. They are forced to self-learn these critical skills after entering the workforce, all while trying to navigate an already stressful first job in the midst of the AI age. Currently, what many schools and universities lack is not IQ, but EQ.
Second, even if graduates are perfectly skilled, they are entering an industry that appears volatile and untrustworthy. The service sector, a cornerstone of our economy, has seen a rise in retrenchments this year. When a company like Twelve Cupcakes abruptly liquidates, leaving 80 workers without pay or notice, the impact goes far beyond one failed business. Such irresponsible closures send a shockwave through the entire talent pool. It deepens distrust, makes the whole sector feel unstable, and turns away young workers who are seeking job security.
The result is a vicious cycle for the hospitality sector where talent becomes risk-averse. The most resilient and adaptable graduates – the very ones employers need – often take their skills to industries they perceive to offer higher income potential, stronger career growth, or greater professional status, such as finance or tech. This makes it incredibly difficult for all hospitality employers, even the credible ones, to hire in the long run.
The Move From Theory to Resilience in Education
To fix the first gap, educators must move beyond just imparting technical knowledge. The goal should be to adopt an immersive educational philosophy that builds resilience and prioritises soft skills. We must create “living labs” that force students to learn teamwork, crisis management, and real-world problem-solving from day one. This “human-centric mindset” is precisely what modern HR leaders should be recruiting for, and it is why graduates from this model are actively recruited by various sectors, from finance to retail.
This human-centric approach is also the single best defence against technological disruption. Many fear that AI will replace entry-level jobs, but the reality is that AI automates tasks, not jobs. It handles data analysis and routine work to free up time for more valuable work, and it makes unique human skills like empathy, trust, and critical thinking more valuable than ever. To future-proof your career means knowing how to manage AI, not compete with it.
Where Businesses Play a Part
Resilient talent is not enough if the businesses they join are not also resilient. As Prime Minister Wong himself noted, job matching “can’t be left entirely to market forces,” and multiple stakeholders should play a more active role in this.
To solve our workforce crisis, businesses and educators must collaborate. HR leaders must shift their hiring strategies to look beyond technical skills and academic transcripts to actively seek out candidates who demonstrate resilience and adaptability.
In parallel, businesses themselves must rebuild trust with the next generation of talent, a balanced imperative for the hospitality industry. This requires innovation at two levels: the jobs themselves and the models that support them.
First, we must redesign roles to be future-proof. For example, Hyatt recently announced it would cut 30% of its US guest services and support teams. While such changes may sound alarming, they reflect a strategic shift; one that redefines jobs, not removes them. When done right, this can create more focused, higher-value roles that combine the best of technology and human service.
Second, HR and leadership teams must embrace a more balanced, transparent approach to career development. That means offering more than just exposure; it means fair pay, real project responsibility, and a clear path for growth. It also means respecting boundaries; flexibility and well-being are not perks; they are baseline expectations for any employer hoping to earn long-term loyalty.
Young talent today are not risk-averse; they are discerning. They are not afraid of hard work, but they seek meaning, security, and opportunity in return. As educators and industry leaders, our role is to bridge that gap with our systems.
The future of hospitality lies in how well we can reimagine it, both for consumers and for those who power it. This dual transformation is an economic imperative. As Singapore rapidly transforms into a super-aged society, its businesses cannot afford to lose their future talent to a crisis of faith. Investing in this generation’s skills and rebuilding trust is a social good, but it is also the most critical and vigilant investment our businesses can make for their own long-term survival and success.
About the author
Chen Bao is the Managing Director of EHL Campus (Singapore) & Asia-Pacific Business Development. He leads the strategic transformation of the campus into a dynamic hub for hospitality innovation, talent development, and executive education across the Asia-Pacific region.
Chen’s expertise spans hotel management, real estate investment, and strategic business development, driven by a deep passion for both hospitality and education.
