ASEAN need to intensify the intra-ASEAN skilled labour mobility in the near term, as well as implement urgent education reforms and workforce reskilling agenda in the long-term to remedy the extreme skills deficit, accentuated by the skills demand brought upon by the rapid digital revolution.
Although the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) has envisioned for the free movement of skilled labour and business visitors within the bloc, current arrangements are considered to be narrow in scope. The lack of true intra-ASEAN skill labour mobility within ASEAN would mean that skill gaps in ASEAN cannot be filled by talents from within the economic community.
The financial industry is also facing the realities of skills shortages, especially with the emergence of Fintech disruptors. According to a report by Asian Institute of Finance (AIF), 76 per cent of employers in the domestic financial services industry faced talent shortages across all sectors.
“CIMB has a workforce of about 37,000 strong in major ASEAN markets that we are present. The shortage of competent and skilled workers is of concern to our industry as financial services are one of the key contributors to ASEAN GDP growth.
“Intra-ASEAN mobility should be more efficient, and we need regulatory support for us to harness the best of ASEAN’s diverse talents.
“ASEAN should also establish an MRA for the financial experts to allow intra-ASEAN transfers of skills and knowledge,” CIMB Group chief people officer Datuk Hamidah Naziadin.
She added with new entrants coming into the financial industry through fintechs and other non-traditional competitors who are yet to be fully regulated, intra-ASEAN talent acquisition must speed up to meet the need of markets or we risk being irrelevant given the speed of disruption.
TalentCorp Malaysia chief executive officer, Shareen Shaniza Datuk Abdul Ghani believes that brain circulation or talent mobility can only be promoted by important developments such as the awareness that foreign professionals play an important role in regional economic growth; the expansion of the ASEAN educational infrastructure which supports the growth of student mobility in the region; and the efforts to mutually recognise professional qualifications.
“MRAs for a number of professions have been signed and while the intention is noble, there has been no clarity or speed in implementation.
“Without the ability and real prospects to move intra-regionally, ASEAN professionals who are not able to move within ASEAN may move elsewhere,” she said.
Current data suggests almost two million professionals from ASEAN member states live and work out of the ASEAN region.
“Therefore, ASEAN leaders, policymakers and industries need to work together collectively and collaboratively to close the gap between technologies, market demands and policy, to strongly commit to implementing the MRAs and to keep the pace and accelerating transformation.
“We also need to understand and harness our talent landscape, in order to meet current market gaps and predict future demand,” she added.
These are among the issues discussed during a roundtable titled, “Closing the Talent and Skills Gap in ASEAN” which was organised by CIMB ASEAN Research Institute (CARI) on May 15, in collaboration with the ASEAN Business Club.
The roundtable was chaired by Tan Sri Dr. Munir Majid, Chairman of CARI and President of the ASEAN Business Club. Other panel speakers includes Chua Soon Ghee, Partner, Head of Southeast Asia of A.T. Kearney, Singapore; and Datuk CM Vignaesvaran Jeyandran, Chief Executive of Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) of Malaysia.
Six mutual-recognition agreements (MRAs) were concluded by 2012 for engineering services, nursing, architectural services, tourism professionals, medical practitioners, and dental practitioners; while framework agreements for surveying and accountancy services have been signed. ASEAN also adopted and signed the ninth MRA for Flight Crew licensing in late 2017. Except for engineering and architectural services, progress for the rest has been slow.
