Asia Pacific nations could face talent shortage of upto 12.3mn workers

A study by Korn Ferry reveals that, the Asia Pacific region faces an imminent labour shortage of 12.3 million workers by 2020, with the possibility of rising to 47 million by 2030 at an annual opportunity cost of US$4.238 trillion.

Financial and business services will be hardest hit across the region, with a deficit of 3.7 million workers by 2030, resulting in an annual opportunity cost of more than $439.62 billion if labour shortages are not addressed.

By 2030, Malaysia could lose US$93,458 of its annual business revenue owing to labour deficit.

Meanwhile, Singapore faces a talent shortage of more than 1 million workers. This could result in a potential loss in annual revenue of $106.8 billion by 2030. The country may face Level A labour shortages equalling more than 61% in that same year.

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Globally, labour shortages in global financial and business services are the most acute, with a potential deficit of 10.7 million workers globally by 2030. Furthermore, technological advancement across all sectors of the global economy could be hindered by an acute global labour shortage of 4.3 million technology, media, and telecommunications workers by 2030.

Dilal Ranasinghe, head of search and client development ASEAN for Korn Ferry Futurestep said: “The right talent is the greatest competitive advantage there is for an organisation - and that talent is getting scarcer every day.”

He added that, “The acute demand for workers with the right skills that businesses need, rather than the much-discussed domination of technology in business, could become the defining issue of our age.”

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