Asia Pacific nations could face talent shortage of up to 12.3M workers

Staffing levels are expected to increase across Asia Pacific, but talent shortages remain an ongoing concern for nearly all companies across the region. This article taps into a recent study by Korn Ferry that lays out the upcoming shortage that is expected by 2020 in Asia Pacific of 12.3 million workers. Further predictive insights suggest that by 2030, that number could rise even more dramatically to 47 million, with a particular toll on financial and business-service industries.

Human Resources Online published an article, Singapore to potentially suffer talent shortage of more than 1m workers, showing for each country in APAC the projected labor deficits along with the total unrealized output due to that labor shortage. China, Japan, Singapore and Australia are expected to be most impacted and India happened to be the only country with a labor surplus and no loss on output. Companies, particularly in China, Japan, Singapore and Australia, are likely to have an increased need for expats in their countries. Will companies in those locations then look to India for more talent to meet their needs? 

Besides re-imagining salaries and compensation packages, relocation offerings and assignment benefits will have to be most competitive to attract the needed talent. Companies may need to adjust to this expected talent situation and consider enhancements to mobility packages that provide an improved experience and may also need to get comfortable with increased costs for their programming.