出国劳务门户网站：中国国际劳务信息网

英国《金融时报》网站报道,最近美国人力资源公司万宝盛华(Manpower)的首席执行官杰夫•约雷斯(Jeff Joerres)表示，亚洲技术人才短缺的现象日益严重，这意味着，在5年内，在亚洲运营的跨国企业可能将被迫向高技能科技人才、IT专业人士和工程师支付与西方同等水平的工资。万宝盛华是全球最大的人才招聘公司之一。

约雷斯向英国《金融时报》表示，亚洲正在向附加值更高的制造业转型，所造成技术人才的短缺，让许多在亚洲地区投资的企业遭受到“巨大的生产力冲击”。

他还表示，无论是在中国，还是在越南和柬埔寨等新兴的制造业国家，许多西方企业“显然低估了”为高技术含量的工作找到足够人才所面临的挑战。他说：“这些企业原先是面临技术缺口，现在则是面临人才缺口。它们用一种生产力损失代替了另一种生产力损失。”

他同时警告，亚洲劳动力市场在法律方面的变化，也增加了吸引和留住员工的难度。中国本月开始实施的新《劳动合同法》，提高了企业裁员时需付的遣散费。为争取更高工资而举行的罢工也变得更加常见。

约雷斯最后表示：“我们正在着眼于（工人）有多种选择的市场……那些对这些变化视而不见、继续以西方陈旧的方式在亚洲扩张的企业，必将会深受其害。”

约雷斯预计，过不了多久，雇主们向亚洲高技能员工所支付的工资就不得不向西方看齐，这应该是大部分人期待而少数人不希望的。

附英文原文:

ASIA SKILLS DEFICIT MAY FORCE UP PAY

Growing skills shortages in Asia mean that multinational companies operating in the region may, within five years, be forced to pay western-level wages to skilled scientists, IT specialists and engineers, according to the head of one of the world's largest recruiting companies.

The A shift towards higher value-added manufacturing in Asia could is likely to run into larger-than-expected difficulties linked tois contributing to skills shortages and is likely to result in resulting in “a massive productivity hit'' for many companies investing in the region, Jeff Joerres, chief executive of Manpower, the US staffing company, told the Financial Times.

Jeff Joerres told the Financial Times that employers may have to pay Western -level wages within five years to skilled scientists, information technologists and engineers in Asia.

Many western companies, he said, were “clearly underestimating'' the challenge of finding adequate staff for more advanced jobs, both in China and in new destinations for younger manufacturing destinations such as Vietnam and Cambodia. “Companies will shift from facing a technology deficit to a talent deficit. They are trading off one productivity loss for another,” he said.He said:

Many Western companies are also failing to come to grips with changes in the Legal changes in the Asian labour market also make attracting and retaining staff more difficult, that are making it harder to attract and retain staff, he warned.That includes a legislative overhaul inChina Last month China introduced , where the government introduced this month a new labour contract that raises the amount of compensation that companies have to provide for laying off dismissing workers. Factory strikes over wage demands Strikes for higher pay are also becoming more commonin countries such as Vietnam.

Mr Joerres said: “The old Western approach was to set up factories in Asia only to produce there. Now wWe are looking at markets where people[workers] have choices, so the tables turn from employer to employee. . . . Those companies that are blind to these changes and continue to forge ahead with antiquated western practices in Asia will really suffer.''

Recent employment surveys indicate that Western companies have delayed hiring staff had put on hold hiring plans ahead of the legislative changes in China, amid fears that the law willas they feared the new laws would increase manufacturing costs.

Mr Joerres also warned that corporate investors in Asia should brace themselves for muchstiff would face stiffer competition among both local and foreign employers both Western and Chinese. That will force cCompanies operating in Asia and facing increasing competition for workers would as a result have to promote themselves in the same way as is donethey did in the WestUS or Europe, he said, where potential benefits beyond just benefits as well as salary are highlighted to employees.

He said: “Chinese entities are now willing to pay bigger wages, while before it was just multinational against multinational,” he said. “We are increasingly going to see companies struggling to hold onto people.This is no longer about just providing wages and basic training. This is about developing the whole package of the employer brand.”

Mr Joerres said mMany Western multinational executives also had unrealistic expectations when it came to translating Asia's economic boom into rapid progress in education. “The depth of talent that it has taken decades to build in the west, people now want that instantly in the east,'' he said.

Meanwhile, tAn example lay in the shift to new manufacturing centres around second-tier Chinese cities and away from the coastal areas that are more developed and offer better education. will also highlight skills shortages and put a brake on some corporate investment projectsHe said: “Too many companies are treating China as a land of plentiful talent,” he said. “They are going to find themselves in for a very rude surprise.”

Largely because of the talent scarcity, Mr Joerres predicted employers would soon have to pay Asian staff with scientific, engineering as well as some and information technology skills the equivalent toof their western counterparts within five years.

Companies such as Microsoft have gone further by warningalso warned that a lack of computer science PhDs could threaten India's future as the world's information technology services outsourcing hub.

The shift towards higher value-added manufacturing in Asia is likely to run into larger-than-expected difficulties linked to skills shortages, resulting in “a massive productivity hit'' for many companies investing there, according to the chief executive of Manpower, the US staffing company.

Jeff Joerres said in an interview that many Western companies were “clearly underestimating'' the challenge of finding adequate staff for more advanced jobs, both in China and new destinations for manufacturing such as Vietnam and Cambodia. He said: “Companies will shift from facing a technology deficit to a talent deficit. They are trading off one productivity loss for another.''

Many Western companies are also failing to come to grips with changes in the Asian labour market that are making it harder to attract and retain staff, he warned. That includes a legislative overhaul in China, where the government introduced this month a new labour contract that raises the amount of compensation that companies have to provide for laying off workers. Factory strikes over wage demands are also becoming more common in countries such as Vietnam.

Mr Joerres said: “The old Western approach was to set up factories in Asia only to produce there. Now we are looking at markets where people have choices, so the tables turn from employer to employee. Those companies that are blind to these changes and continue to forge ahead with antiquated Western practices in Asia will really suffer.''

Recent employment surveys have indicated that Western companies had put on hold hiring plans ahead of the legislative changes in China, amid fears that the law will increase manufacturing costs. Mr Joerres also warned that corporate investors should brace themselves for much stiff competition among employers, both Western and Chinese. That will force companies operating in Asia to promote themselves in the same way as is done in the West, where potential benefits beyond just salary are highlighted to employees.

He said: “Chinese entities are now willing to pay bigger wages, while before it was just multinationals against multinationals… We are increasingly going to see companies struggling to hold onto people. This is no longer about just providing wages and basic training. This is about developing the whole package of the employer brand.”

Mr Joerres said many Western executives had unrealistic expectations when it came to translating Asia's economic boom into rapid progress in education. “The depth of talent that it has taken decades to build in the West, people now want that instantly in the East,'' he said. Meanwhile, the shift to new manufacturing centres around second-tier Chinese cities and away from the coastal areas that are more developed and offer better education will also highlight skills shortages and put a brake on some corporate investment projects. He said: “'Too many companies are treating China as a land of plentiful talent. They are going to find themselves in for a very rude surprise.”

Largely because of the talent scarcity, Mr Joerres predicted employers will have to pay Asian staff with scientific, engineering as well as some information technology skills the equivalent to their Western counterparts within five years. Companies such as Microsoft have gone further by warning that a lack of computer science PhDs could threaten India's future as the world's information technology services outsourcing hub.