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By Katrina Mennen A. Valdez, Reporter
BUSINESSMEN consider the lack of a skilled
workforce as the biggest constraint to expansion, according to the
annual International Business Report issued by Grant Thornton
International Ltd.
For two consecutive years, the unavailability of
a skilled workforce emerged as the most important constraint to
business expansion among Filipinos. Similarly, skills lack emerged
as the number one problem of privately held business around the
world, displacing inhospitable regulations and red tape.
The report, which was released by Punongbayan
& Araullo (P&A), is an annual survey of the attitudes and
expectations of medium-sized businesses. This year, the report
surveyed 7,800 respondents from 34 participating countries.
Of the Filipino business leaders polled,
58 percent said the growth of their enterprise is worst affected by
the unavailability of a skilled workforce, up from last year’s 43
percent. Globally, the proportion of respondents who cited this
constraint increased from 34 percent last year to 37 percent this
year.
In terms of lack of a skilled workforce,
the Philippines shared the third spot with Australia, while Thailand
and New Zealand were the top two countries wherein this was also a
problem.
“[We] are in a dire situation since [we]
now belong to the top three countries whose business growth is
limited mostly by this human resource problem,” Greg Navarro,
P&A managing partner said.
Late last year, networking company Cisco
reported that the Philippines was short of 1,300 information
technology professionals, with this shortage expected to rise to
2,400 by next year.
A large Korean investor and many Middle East
contractors also expressed concern about the lack of qualified
welders and other skilled technicians, the report said.
“The business community has been experiencing
the gradual and continuous deterioration of the quality of graduates
in the past decade or so, and has organized itself to help the
education sector improve the standard in the country,” Navarro
said.
Besides the unavailability of a skilled
workforce, the report also showed a notable increase in the
percentage of Filipino respondents concerned about the reduced
demand for their products or services. From 17 percent of
respondents last year, this figure jumped to 46 percent this year.
This was followed by red tape, which had been on
a downward track for the past four years. Last year, 26 percent of
Filipino business leaders said it was a major roadblock to growth,
down from 34 percent in 2006. This year, 49 percent consider it a
major constraint.
“Besides being a major constraint to business,
red tape also influences the flow of foreign investments into the
country. So [we] have to take a serious look at how [we] can reduce
bureaucracy and cut the costs of doing business in the Philippines
if we want to catch up with [our] Asian neighbors,” Navarro said.
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