Singapore Workers Are Job Hugging While Battling Burnout and Job Insecurity: ManpowerGroup’s Global Talent Barometer Singapore Report

SINGAPORE (20 JANUARY 2026) – ManpowerGroup today released its Global Talent Barometer 2026, providing insights into workforce sentiment across 19 countries.

The overall Global Talent Barometer score in Singapore softened to 63% in 2026, down one percentage point from the previous year. This was driven by declines in the Well-Being Index (62%) and Confidence Index (71%), while the Job Satisfaction Index (56%)edged up. The report, which gathered data from 515 workers in Singapore between 1 September and 1 October 2025, reveals what workers value most in the rapidly evolving world of work.

In Singapore, while most employees (60%) intend to remain with their current employer, a significant majority (73%) are actively seeking new opportunities. Notably, nearly two in five (39%) anticipate possible job loss in the next six months, and concern over AI-driven job loss remains high, with 58% of workers fearing automation could replace them within two years—despite a slight decrease of two percentage points from 2025.

Alongside this, workplace stress remains high, with more than half of employees (53%) reporting significant daily stress. This consistent strain is reflected in burnout rates, with seven in ten workers (72%) saying they have recently experienced it, citing stress (34%), heavy workloads (28%), and job insecurity (24%) as the leading causes.

“As Singapore moves deeper into an AI-driven economy, leaders are balancing two critical horizons. There’s the Now — sustaining business performance while guiding people through rapid digital transformation. And there’s the Next — equipping workers with future-ready skills and building confidence for an AI-enabled future that is still taking shape,” says Ms. Linda Teo, Country Manager of ManpowerGroup Singapore.

“The Global Talent Barometer continues to help us understand how workers are experiencing this moment of change. It also highlights that transformation cannot come at the expense of well-being. With workers in Singapore continuing to report high daily stress and more than half lacking recent training or mentorship, organizations must balance performance goals with initiatives that support mental health, resilience, and continuous learning.

KEY SINGAPORE FINDINGS

Well-Being

• The Well-Being Index stands at 62%, a decline of one percentage point from 2025.
• Gen Z men are the most stressed, with 73% experiencing high daily stress—more than three times the rate among Baby Boomer men, who reported the lowest levels at 22%.
• Overall well-being was lowest in the Healthcare & Life Sciences (62%) and Information Technology (62%) sectors, which saw year‑on‑year declines of 9 and 2 percentage points, respectively.

Job Satisfaction

• The Job Satisfaction Index stands at 56%, an increase of one percentage point from 2025.
• Mostly-onsite employees saw broad declines in the Job Satisfaction Index since 2024, with job-search confidence (55%) recording the largest drop across both roles and locations, falling by 24 percentage points.
• The share of IT workers likely to stay in their roles rose to 36% (up 4 points from 2025), while job search confidence saw the steepest industry decline, dropping 22 points from 81% to 59% over the same period.

Confidence

• The Confidence Index stands at 71%, a decline of three percentage points from 2025.
• Most workers (85%) are confident they have the right skills to successfully perform their existing role.
• New questions about AI proficiency drove a 9-point decline in confidence with the latest tech (69%) despite more than half of workers (52%) regularly using AI at work. The tech confidence drop was most pronounced among Gen X (62%) and Millennial (72%) workers, weakening by 13 points and 12 points, respectively.