Daily Briefing: 1 in 5 full-time Singapore workers could lose their jobs to technology; China still a travel-favorite for Singaporeans

And national development minister thinks ‘too premature’ to say whether shoebox unit measures could hit property prices.

From CNBC:

Singapore is expected to be hit the most by the technological disruption in Southeast Asia as 21% of the city-state’s full time jobs is expected to be displaced within the next 10 years, according to estimates from the World Economic Forum.

That's because Singapore is already at the "frontier of technology progress" and businesses are therefore able to readily implement new innovations and overhaul processes, rather than play "technology catch-up," the report noted.

"Relative to the size of its total workforce, and despite its already highly-skilled worker profile, Singapore faces the greatest skills challenge, according to our model, because the majority of new jobs there will be created in highly-skilled professional and managerial roles," it said.

Read more here.

From TTG Asia:

China remains as one of Singaporeans' top pick destination with over 1,000 Singapore travellers headed to the Asian giant for travel every year.

Ong Hanjie, managing director of EU Asia Holidays, observed that although recent “K-pop, K-drama and J-beauty” trends have drawn many Singaporeans to South Korea and Japan during peak seasons, he still sees families visiting China during and outside of holiday periods.

“With the ethnic Chinese constituting a majority of Singapore’s population, there is a number of Singaporeans ‘returning’ to China to seek their heritage roots and visit ancestral villages in Xiamen and Guangdong,” observed Dynasty Travel’s director, public relations & communications, Alicia Seah.

She explained: “These ‘root-seeking’ travellers can range from a small group of family members, comprising six to eight persons, to a big clan of about 50 to 100 visiting their ancestral villages.”

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From iCompare Loan:

National development minister Lawrence Wong thinks said that it is ‘too premature’ to see whether the government’s new measures to deter excessive shoebox units development will affect property market prices.

Replying to a parliamentary question, the Minister further reminded that the property market prices are dependent on many factors beyond the guideline, which includes developers’ bidding behaviour for land, homebuyers’ evolving demand for units of various sizes, as well as how developers adjust the mix of unit sizes for upcoming projects to cater to demand.

He added that his ministry’s new guidelines do not stipulate a minimum built-up area for private properties. It instead imposes a limit on the maximum number of units that developers can build in a development, to manage potential strains on local infrastructure and safeguard the liveability of residential estates.

Read more here.