Singapore HR News Roundup | May 2026: AI, Fraud & Workforce Trends

Navigating the AI Shift: WP Proposes Wage Subsidies for New Grad Apprenticeships

Singapore's Workers' Party is sounding the alarm on AI's growing displacement of entry-level professional roles, warning that graduates are being shut out before their careers even begin.

The party is pushing for targeted, temporary wage subsidies to lower the cost risk for employers who take on fresh graduates in structured apprenticeship roles.

It also renewed calls for a universal redundancy insurance scheme, covering all income levels, to serve as a financial buffer as industry restructuring accelerates.

New MOM-Phishing Scams Targeting Employment Offences

Singapore authorities have flagged a new scam wave where fraudsters send emails posing as the Ministry of Manpower, falsely claiming companies have breached the Employment Act.

Targets are directed through embedded links to a counterfeit MOM webpage, where downloading the "rectification documents" silently installs malware on their devices.

Once installed, scammers gain full remote access, putting sensitive HR and payroll data at serious risk. Government impersonation scams more than doubled in 2025, with over 3,300 cases reported and nearly $913 million lost nationwide.

Employers Offering Up To 15% Salary Premiums for AI-Skilled Staff

A new report reveals that 81% of employers are revising compensation strategies to attract AI-skilled talent, with salary premiums reaching 10-15% for candidates with proven AI capabilities.

Yet competition, rapidly shifting skill definitions, and a lack of internal benchmarks are making it difficult for HR teams to price this talent fairly.

Budget-constrained organisations are turning to alternative value propositions, offering upskilling, flexible work, and high-impact projects, to stay competitive in an increasingly AI-driven hiring landscape.

Candidate Fraud: The Warning Signs HR Should Watch Out For

With candidates using generative AI to fabricate entire professional identities - complete with synthetic headshots, polished LinkedIn profiles, and convincing portfolios, HR and talent acquisition teams face a growing threat.

The good news: background verification tools can silently flag suspicious patterns. These include duplicate device fingerprints, cloned submissions, or mismatched identity signals - without adding conflicts for genuine applicants.

The key is catching bad actors early, so recruiters can focus their time on the candidates who truly deserve it.

Singapore Sets Out to Upskill 40,000 Tech Workers in AI Push

Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is training 40,000 tech professionals over 3 years under its National AI Impact Programme, expanding to include both working professionals and final-year students.

The initiative builds on an earlier national commitment to equip 100,000 non-tech workers with AI capabilities by 2029.

HR Warned of 'Systemic Failure' As Fear of Retaliation Remains Rampant

Majority of employees witness illegal or unethical conduct on the job but remain silent, citing fear of retaliation as their primary deterrent.

With DEI commitments also slipping down organisational priority lists, HR leaders are urged to urgently rebuild cultures of trust, strengthen anti-retaliation policies, and close critical awareness gaps, to avoid risks of lasting legal, reputational, and cultural damage.