Careers in health care, education and digital services are set to be among the fastest-growing in Southeast Asia this year, according to a new report released Tuesday.
LinkedIn’s inaugural Jobs on the Rise report points to a surge in demand for medical professionals, teachers and creatives in 2021, as the coronavirus changes the face of the region’s jobs landscape. To be sure, the study — a special edition of the site’s annual emerging jobs report — also notes continued demand for technical specialists, such as data analysts and engineers.
But LinkedIn’s Feon Ang, vice president of talent and learning solutions for Asia-Pacific, said the findings indicate a change in direction this year. “These (trends) have emerged in direct relation to the global pandemic, and reflect the current landscape around us,” Ang said.
For its report, the professional networking site tracked the growth in listings for over 15,000 job titles to identify those that increased the most in 2020 compared to the previous year. Those titles were then grouped into 15 major career trends for various markets globally, including the US.
In particular, Ang highlighted the rise of medical roles. They include not only work for frontline medical staff like doctors and nurses, but also social workers and mental health professionals. Elsewhere, the rapid rate of digitalization — for instance the shift to online retail due to lockdowns — has opened up new roles in e-commerce and supply chain. Those trends, in turn, have led businesses to implement new digital technologies, resulting in a surge in demand for software and cybersecurity specialists.
“These growing jobs demonstrate that there are still various opportunities for job seekers with a range of skills and experience,” said Ang. She added that they also present opportunities for career changers, or those newly out of work, to shift into growing industries, for instance by learning new skills online. “By adopting a lifelong learning mindset, and picking up new skills or honing their current ones, workers can prepare themselves to take up these emerging roles.”
