Global skills shortage looms
Skilled professionals will be in short supply as the world economy recovers, warns Larry Gould, chief executive of Australia‐wide Business Training Pty Ltd (awbt).
“Very few employers are taking a ‘Blue Ocean’ approach to their HR strategies and as a result, their SOS calls will not be responded to, with potentially devastating results for the long term success and financial viability of their operations,” said Gould. “This situation is likely to worsen as the Australian and International economies gain confidence and momentum.”
According to the 2009 Manpower Australia Annual Talent Shortage Survey, 49 percent of Australian employers struggled to fill positions despite the economic crisis. In the Asia-Pacific, this figure was more than 30 percent. Research by awbt confirmed this.
Globally, companies now regard talent recruitment as a priority and as a result, many businesses are prepared to recruit appropriate candidates from overseas or are prepared to move part or all of their operations to countries that can provide a supply of skilled and talented employees, said Gould.
“As a result of globalisation, ageing workforces and the ‘War for Talent’, we are experiencing seismic shifts in the business landscape that requires new and innovative approaches by businesses to employment, retention and professional/personal development to attract and retain competent staff,” he said.
“The competitive forces impacting on talent will require organisations to implement a Centre of Excellence framework to provide the ‘business driver’ for innovation and growth.
“How good an organisation is at attracting, managing and developing the skills and expertise of its human resource assets will become the crucial factor that determines the winners and losers in terms of marketplace competitive advantage.”
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When you use the phrase “labor shortage” or “skills shortage” you’re speaking in a sentence fragment. What you actually mean to say is: “There is a labor shortage at the salary level I’m willing to pay.” That statement is the complete and intellectually honest sentence.
Some people speak about shortages as though they represent some absolute, readily identifiable lack of desirable services. Price is rarely accorded its proper importance in their discussions.
If you start raising wages and improving working conditions, and continue doing so, you’ll solve your “shortage” and will have people lining up around the block to work for you even if you need to have huge piles of steaming manure hand-scooped on a blazing summer afternoon.
And if you think there’s going to be a shortage caused by employees retiring out of the workforce: Guess again: With the majority of retirement accounts down about 50% or more, most people entering retirement age are working well into their sunset years. So, you won’t be getting a worker shortage anytime soon due to retirees exiting the workforce.
Some specialized jobs require training and/or certification, again, the solution is higher wages and improved benefits. People will self-fund their re-education so that they can enter the industry in a work-ready state. The attractive wages, working conditions and career prospects of technology during the 1980’s and 1990’s was a prime example of people’s willingness to self-fund their own career re-education.
There is never enough of any good or service to satisfy all wants or desires. A buyer, or employer, must give up something to get something. They must pay the market price and forego whatever else he could have for the same price. The forces of supply and demand determine these prices — and the price of a skilled workman is no exception. The buyer can take it or leave it. However, those who choose to leave it (because of lack of funds or personal preference) must not cry shortage. The good is available at the market price. All goods and services are scarce, but scarcity and shortages are by no means synonymous. Scarcity is a regrettable and unavoidable fact.
Shortages are purely a function of price. The only way in which a shortage has existed, or ever will exist, is in cases where the “going price” has been held below the market-clearing price.