SABER Workforce Development Singapore Multiyear Country Report 2012
The study benchmarked levels of support for workforce development in Singapore and identified
measures that helped to progress workforce development within the framework of human capital
development. The study piloted a new diagnostic tool (SABER-WfD) to assess Singapore’s
workforce development for three time periods: 1970, 1990 and 2010. This case illustrates the
progressive development of a strategic workforce development system in a small city-state with a
rapidly changing economy that shifted from a developing to advanced economy in just a few
decades. The tool is part of the World Bank’s initiative on Systems Assessment for Better
Education Results (SABER), focusing on several policy domains including workforce
development. Three broad functional dimensions of workforce development policies were
assessed based on a wide range of primary and secondary evidence: strategic framework; system
oversight; and service delivery. The findings show that Singapore has made continuous progress
on all dimensions, representing a highly advanced system by 2010 but also one that continues to
adapt and innovate nonetheless.