Skilled labor shortage hits Asian export growth

Skilled labor shortage hits Asian export growth

SINGAPORE (AFP): A shortage of skilled labor is restricting
export growth in major Asian trading nations, senior company
executives across the region said in a survey released here
yesterday.

"This is especially so in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan
and China, where more than six in 10 respondents perceived the
problem," said the DHL-Gallup survey, which measures business
confidence among exporters.

A total of 1,125 executives were polled in 15 countries
including Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, New
Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The poll was commissioned by parcel delivery company DHL
Worldwide and conducted by the Gallup Organization.

More than nine out of 10 exporters in Vietnam perceived a
shortage of skilled labor as restricting export growth over both
the short and the long term, while more than seven out of 10
respondents in Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan held the same view,
the survey said.

The survey also detected pessimism among exporters in
Japan, South Korea and China over export orders in the next 12
months.

Across the region, there was a belief that the United States
and Europe were potential growth markets for regional exports in
1997.

Exporters in a majority of countries cited cost and trade
atmosphere as the most important factors affecting sales, it
said. Three in five Japanese respondents said the yen exchange
rate would play a large role.

ASEAN countries were cited as the export markets which
experienced the best growth in the last 12 months. ASEAN, or the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, groups Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

"Over the next 12 months ASEAN countries are perceived to be a
growth area for exports by at least 40 percent of exporters in
seven of the 15 countries surveyed," the survey said.

India, China and Vietnam were rated as the most difficult
countries for initiation of trade, and Hong Kong and Singapore
the easiest,

The survey said a majority of executives expected stability in
Hong Kong after the July 1 handover to China, with more than half
the respondents believing the economy and business in Hong Kong
will remain the same or improve.

The exception was Singapore, in which nearly half the
respondents expected the Hong Kong economy to be worse off, it
said.