India, US, China and Germany lack talent

Updated on: Thursday, June 02, 2011

The recent 'Talent Shortage Survey' by the Manpower Group gauged the impact of talent shortages on the global labour market during the first quarter of 2011. The global average of the difficulty in filling positions by employers stood at 34%. The survey also revealed that employers in India, the US, China and Germany reported the most dramatic talent shortages.

Environmental/market factors play a major role in talent shortage, said employers. While 22% felt that lack of technical competencies required for the job was the reason for the talent shortfall, another 15% said that candidates' lack of business knowledge or formal qualifications was the primary reason for the talent shortage.

The most common response received from 21% of employers as a possible solution, was extra training and development for their existing staff. Other responses included changing the recruiting strategy, widening the search outside the local region and changing how organisations recruit or advertise their positions.

In the Asia-pacific region, where the impact of the global economic downturn was less, as compared to the rest of the world, and which experienced an earlier, more robust recovery, 45% of employers reported having difficulty filling job vacancies due to lack of available talent. Employers, especially in countries such as China and India, continue to have strong hiring expectations.

A regional drill-down reveals that 80% of employers in Japan reported difficulties filling positions as compared to 67% of employers in India and 54% in Australia and Taiwan respectively . The results were well above the global average of 34%.

In contrast, at 24%, Chinese employers reported significantly less difficulty in filling positions.

TOP TEN DIFFICULT-TO-FILL JOBS IN ASIA-PACIFIC

1. Sales Representatives

2. Technicians

3. Labourers

4. Engineers

5. Accounting & Finance Staff

6. Research (R&D)

7. IT Staff

8. Management/ Executives

9. Skilled Trades Workers

10. Sales Managers

Times of India

India, US, China and Germany lack talent

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