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Published: 23-Oct-25 | By APSCo Southeast Asia
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APSCo Southeast Asia Joins Singapore's AfA-ACES Initiative to Advance the Staffing Ecosystem

In Southeast Asia's dynamic talent market, where rapid technological change and demographic shifts are intensifying labour mismatches, the staffing industry is uniquely positioned to drive inclusive growth.
APSCo Southeast Asia is honoured to announce its appointment as one of the select industry expert partners for Singapore's Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) Alliance for Action on Advancing Career and Employment Services (AfA-ACES). This role cements our status as the authoritative voice for staffing professionals, enabling us to shape policies that enhance recruitment efficiency and talent mobility.
 
Addressing Critical Labour Market Challenges
Singapore's Career and Employment Services (CES) ecosystem faces pressing issues that directly impact recruitment firms, including:
  • Technological Disruption and Skills Gaps: Jobs evolving faster than talent supply, creating demand for specialised roles in software, digital infrastructure, and financial advisory.
  • Economic Volatility and Mismatches: Nearly 40% of 2024 job switchers moved to less-productive sectors (for example, retail, food services), despite shortages in high-growth areas.
  • Diverse Workforce Needs: Varied archetypes, from mid-career professionals requiring flexible options to graduates facing AI-heightened entry barriers and re-entrants overcoming skills and confidence hurdles.
  • Declining Participation Rates: Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) at 68.2% in 2024, with risks to working-age adults (25-64) from tech adaptation challenges and caregiving demands, trailing efficient labour allocation in peers like Poland and Australia.

These dynamics risk productivity drags and inequalities, underscoring the need for staffing innovations to optimise talent flow.
 
AfA-ACES: A Platform for Staffing-Led Transformation
Launched on September 4, 2025, and co-chaired by MOM Permanent Secretary Mr. Ng Chee Khern and Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) Honorary Treasurer Mr. Marcus Lam, AfA-ACES unites stakeholders from SNEF, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), Association of Small & Medium Enterprises (ASME), Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP), and the CES sector to innovate job matching and mobility.
 
Core objectives include:
  • Equipping individuals for aspiration-aligned roles while empowering employers to redesign jobs for broader talent access.
  • Boosting LFPR (especially ages 40-64) through barrier-breaking services like upskilling and flexible models.
  • Evolving the industry beyond transactional placements to integrated solutions that "shape workers for jobs" (for example, career guidance, reskilling) and "shape jobs for workers" (for example, workforce planning).
 
The initiative emphasises two focus areas with direct relevance to staffing:
  • FA1 - Redefining Jobs: Integrating hiring services (for example, recruitment, staffing) with upstream CES to serve underserved markets like SMEs.
  • FA2 - Labour Mobility: Linking placements with career planning and training, promoting coordination across recruitment agencies, search firms, and staffing providers, which handle over 190,000 placements annually.

Focus group discussions begin in September 2025, engaging experts, employers, and jobseekers to identify gaps and test ideas, leading to recommendations by May 2026.
 
APSCo Southeast Asia: Championing the Staffing Voice
As the only officially recognised trade body for the staffing industry in Southeast Asia, our participation in AfA-ACES, through Industry Expert Christina Ng, Co-chair of the APSCo Southeast Asia Representative Committee, ensures recruitment priorities, such as regulatory alignment and quality standards, influence national reforms. We will advocate for enablers like accreditation, funding for affordable services, and self-regulation to elevate industry standards.
This builds on our regional momentum, including advancing collaborations with TalentCorp in Malaysia (details forthcoming). Our contributions will support the four "Vs": greater volume and velocity of placements, variety for diverse needs, and enhanced value via productive outcomes.
 
Strategic Opportunities for Recruitment Professionals
For staffing firms and professionals in Southeast Asia, AfA-ACES signals pathways to sustainable growth:
  • Innovative Models: Pilots exploring skills-based matching, fractional roles, and integrated training-to-placement to target hard-to-fill vacancies and underserved segments.
  • Policy Influence: Frameworks for ecosystem coordination, reducing duplication and scaling high-impact services.
  • Business Expansion: Opportunities in new segments like mature workers and SMEs, with evaluation via KPIs (for example, placement rates, wage uplifts) and macro metrics (for example, improved LFPR).

A 2026 showcase will highlight scalable learnings for industry adoption.
 
Partner with APSCo Southeast Asia
We invite recruitment leaders to leverage our advocacy with MOM. For details on AfA-ACES insights, policy representation, or collaboration, fill out our contact form here, or get in touch with Gareth Bibby, Member Service Manager, or Baz Sultana, Global Services and Development Manager.
APSCo Southeast Asia
asia.apsco.org
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