Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese most competitive in Asia<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (AFP): The Philippines, India and Vietnam are seen
\nby business executives as having the most competitive labor pools
\nin Asia, where many countries are facing manpower problems,
\naccording to a regional survey.<\/p>\n
The Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. (PERC) said a
\npoll of 400 executives showed more affluent countries like South
\nKorea and Singapore, both marked by labor shortages and high
\nwages, were ranked lowest.<\/p>\n
"Asia has a labor problem -- a big one. Labor issues --
\nfinding, training and retaining workers -- are the single biggest
\nchallenge facing most company managers," said the PERC's
\nfortnightly Asian Intelligence report.<\/p>\n
The Philippines had "the best balanced labor situation" among
\n12 countries covered by the survey, dislodging India, which
\nscored highest in a 1996 poll.<\/p>\n
"Senior managers continue to regard Philippine labor as cheap
\nand of high quality, at least partly because of their good
\ncommand of English. Turnover rates are also low," the PERC report
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
But it warned that perhaps because of the plentiful supply of
\nboth trained and untrained labor, companies in the Philippines
\nhave lagged in adopting new technology, and as a result,
\nproductivity tends to be "extremely poor."<\/p>\n
India slipped in the rankings, despite having an abundance of
\nworkers with quality technical skills, because illiteracy is more
\nprevalent particularly among women, and the problem of child
\nlabor is more extensive, PERC said.<\/p>\n
"Compounding the problem is the caste-stratified culture to
\nwhich company managers have to be sensitive," it remarked.<\/p>\n
In Vietnam, foreign businessmen may be "extremely put off" by
\ncorruption and bureaucracy but the labor force "is clearly an
\nattribute the country can use as a big drawing card," the report
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Vietnam has been more successful at providing basic education
\nthan countries like China or India, which have deeper labor
\npools, and Vietnamese "are also eager to work," with some of the
\nlowest wage levels in the region.<\/p>\n
PERC said Vietnamese are also noted for linguistic skills,
\nwith workers fluent in such languages as English or French and
\nseveral dialects of Chinese.<\/p>\n
In fourth-ranked China, the country is so big that the
\nsituation in one part is very different from the other, and
\nforeign investment is now gravitating toward areas with more
\nuniversities such as Shanghai and Tianjin.<\/p>\n
Productivity is in general a "tremendous problem" in China,
\nand "personal connections rather than technology are considered
\nto be the asset needed to get things done," the report noted.<\/p>\n
Indonesian labor, ranked fifth, is still considered relatively
\ncheap but "quality leaves much to be desired," the report said.<\/p>\n
In eighth-ranked Thailand, currently wrenched by severe
\neconomic problems and a sharply devalued currency, the labor
\nsituation is "very worrying" after the government neglected the
\neducational system, resulting in a shortage of skilled
\ntechnicians.<\/p>\n
Production costs have risen and unskilled Thai labor is
\ncostlier than in other developing countries. Moreover, companies
\ncannot bring in sophisticated equipment because they cannot find
\nworkers to run or maintain it, PERC said.<\/p>\n
Malaysia, ninth in the rankings, is one of the most difficult
\ncountries in the region to recruit skilled and unskilled labor
\nand turnover rates are very high, but the push toward new
\ntechnology could compensate for the constraints, PERC said.
\nTaiwan and Hong Kong came in at the middle of the rankings.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong's brain drain problem has been exaggerated and more
\nlabor has in fact moved into the territory than has left it, PERC
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Middle- and upper-management is expensive but of high quality
\nand quite mobile, enhancing Hong Kong's status as a regional
\ncorporate center and a base for supporting China business, it
\nsaid.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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