​Vacancy trends in 2025 indicate that business expansion and digitalisation continued to shape labour demand, while hiring conditions improved overall though shortages persisted in some specialised roles.
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1. Nearly half of vacancies in 2025 were newly created positions (49.3%), suggesting that labour demand continued to be supported by business expansion rather than replacement hiring alone.​
2. Software, web, multimedia and game developers and designers, systems analysts and data scientists remained in demand. Demand for engineering professionals was also sustained by ongoing infrastructure and advanced manufacturing investments.
3. Employers increasingly emphasised skills and competencies over formal qualifications when filling vacancies, with academic qualifications not being the main determinant in hiring for 79.6% of vacancies in 2025.
   
4. Hiring difficulties eased overall, with the share of vacancies unfilled for at least six months declining from 19.4% in 2024 to 17.1% in 2025. This is less than half the level in 2015 (39.0%), suggesting that hiring conditions have improved over the longer term. However, among PMET roles, the share of vacancies unfilled for at least six months rose from 14.4% in 2024 to 16.0% in 2025 after three consecutive years of improvement. Employers cited a lack of s​pecialised skills and relevant experience, within roles such as data scientists, teaching and training professionals and civil engineers.
   

5. ​Entry leve​l PMET opportunities remained available across most industries, supporting access into professional roles for fresh graduates and new entrants.
6. Remote-capable jobs are becoming more common, while overseas recruitment for such roles has declined. While the proportion of vacancies for jobs that can be performed remotely increased from 14.4% in 2024 to 22.7% in 2025, the share of vacancies where employers intended to recruit from overseas declined from 23.0% to 16.5% over the same period.