The Star,
21 April 2008
Call for database on
employment
FINDING the optimum way to deploy employees in
meaningful work and addressing the issue of the
steady trickle of human capital out of Malaysia are
issues that the Government and employers have been
pondering for years.
This is a dilemma that increasingly the country's
decision-makers, whether in Government or the
private sector, would have to face.
Malaysia has the infrastructure and a business
climate that is welcoming compared with a number of
countries in Asia.
Perhaps the first step in overcoming the problem
would be a database on employment detailing manpower
availability that is easily available to education
institutions and employers.
Malaysian Employers Federation president Datuk Azman
Shah Harun said the lack of database was a stumbling
block in addressing the issue of effective human
capital management and other related issues such as
brain drain and the move towards high-technology
industries, which requires highly skilled people.
But somehow a substantial number of its employable
workforce seems to be moving away and it's not just
the white-collar workers. Skilled personnel,
particularly in the building trades and oil and gas
services industry, are being drawn to countries such
as China, Singapore, Vietnam and countries that make
up the Gulf Cooperation Council.
In healthcare, nurses are being lured to Saudi
Arabia while medical doctors and other allied
healthcare professionals find not just pay but
better career advancement abroad.
According to human capital management experts, the
reasons for finding employment abroad are varied.
Some said it is the money but others, especially
those who are in the white-collar professions, may
not be able to find jobs or positions that
commensurate with their qualifications or decided to
relocate for their children's education.
The problem is made acute by an increasingly
borderless world. Economic growth, particularly in
Asia, coupled with easier movement of employable
workers across borders have impacted Malaysia, which
has seen a shortage of workers across sectors and
skill-sets over the past several years.
In healthcare, nurses are being lured to Saudi
Arabia while medical doctors and other allied
healthcare professionals find not just pay but
better career advancement abroad.
In the past two years, for example, industries in
the construction sector, including property
development, have seen projects been delayed due to
the shortage of manpower. The situation is further
impacted by the rise in the price of building
materials.
The problem of brain drain is more telling,
especially as Malaysia aims to move up the value
chain to growth industries such as information and
communication technology, microelectronics,
biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, advanced
materials, pharmaceuticals, aerospace and energy.
Citing an Ernst & Young survey on human capital
development for the biotechnology industry
undertaken last year, Malaysian Biotechnology Corp
Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Iskandar Mizal
Mahmood said recently that Malaysia lagged behind
the region in terms of the number of researchers.
There are only 3,400 in the 14 research
institutions.
He said there was a need to step-up partnerships and
collaboration in human capital development (with
local and foreign institutions) or Malaysia's
position as a contender and competitor in the race
for the global biotech business would be jeopardised.
Iskandar said the Government had a target of
doubling the pool of knowledge workers in the
biotech industry by 2015, from 40,000 in 2011. |
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