ADP Finds Singapore Workers Wary Despite Rising AI Use

ADP Research's People at Work 2026 report shows only 15% of workers in Singapore strongly agree their jobs are safe from elimination, according to reporting by BusinessTimes and Vulcan Post. The report places Singapore below the Asia-Pacific average of 18% and the global average of 22%, and ranks it among the lowest-confidence markets in a 36-market survey where only South Korea (9%), Taiwan (11%) and Japan (5%) scored lower, per BusinessTimes and Vulcan Post. ADP's underlying poll sampled more than 39,000 working adults across 36 markets, including 13,136 respondents from the Asia-Pacific region, as reported by BusinessTimes and SBR. Several outlets additionally reported that Singapore workers show relatively high daily use of generative AI-about 23% use AI nearly every day-and elevated unpaid work hours, with 45% reporting more than five unpaid hours weekly (SBR; Singapore Business Review).

Editorial analysis - technical context: Employee sentiment data of this kind is derived from large cross-sectional surveys and reflects perceived risk rather than realized displacement. Surveys that combine questions on daily AI use, unpaid hours, and engagement typically correlate higher AI exposure with concerns about role relevance while showing mixed signals on productivity and engagement. For practitioners tracking workforce telemetry, measures such as reported daily AI use (23% in Singapore) and engagement rates (fully engaged share 12% in Singapore for 2024 and 2025, per SBR) are useful leading indicators of where reskilling and work-design interventions may be necessary.

Editorial analysis: Low job-security confidence in Singapore appears amid continued AI adoption and low aggregate unemployment, a pattern ADP highlights in its global reporting (ADP Research; HCAMag). For the wider region, APAC respondents reported slightly higher confidence than Singapore on average (18%), but no market surveyed had a majority who felt secure, per ADP Research as cited by BusinessTimes. The combination of low perceived security, uneven AI adoption across occupations (knowledge workers more confident than repetitive-task workers), and high unpaid hours suggests friction between productivity gains and worker experience that employers and HR analytics teams will need to monitor (BusinessTimes; HCAMag; SBR).

Editorial analysis: Observers and practitioners should watch for three measurable indicators reported across sources: adoption rates of generative AI by role (the 23% daily-use figure in Singapore, SBR), changes in engagement and productivity metrics tied to AI rollout (ADP data links perceived security to engagement, HCAMag), and employer actions on communication and upskilling (ADP executives recommend clearer communication and training per HCAMag). Additional follow-up surveys or panel studies that track the same respondents over time would clarify whether perceptions converge with labor-market outcomes reported in official statistics.

ADP executives are quoted in media coverage: Jessica Zhang, Senior Vice President for Asia-Pacific at ADP, said, "In Singapore, employees are not thinking about whether they have a job today, but also whether their roles will remain relevant tomorrow," and the ADP materials cited calls for clearer communication and investment in training (HCAMag; BusinessTimes).