Skilled Labor Shortage Requires Root Level Solutions

Skilled Labor Shortage Requires Root Level Solutions
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
August 13, 2012

Summary: The shortage of skilled labor is a systemic problem. Upstream we must improve the educational system. Midstream we must increase hiring opportunities. Downstream we must offer incentives to retain skilled labor. Only then can the situation be improved. The first two require restructuring. They must begin immediately. But they will not yield results in the short-term. Therefore we must increase the incentives to attract talent. This includes improved conditions to attract talent from the Mainland, as a short term cure.

Full Text below:

Chu Ching-yi, Chairman of the National Science Council, and Kuan Chung-ming, a Member of the Executive Yuan Political Affairs Office, along with other government leaders, have recently warned about the shortage of skilled labor. Kuan fears that the Republic of China will become a "third rate nation." Chu was even more blunt. He said if the problem is not addressed, we will soon "die a miserable death."

Over the past several years, Taiwan has experienced a shortage of skilled labor, in many areas. This is a topic that has attracted much public attention. Everyone knows about the problem. But no one has a clear solution. The two officials' remarks stunned the public. Their remarks reflected their sense of powerlessness and sense of urgency.

There are many kinds of skilled labor. Some skills are innate. But many more skills are acquired through education and training. One solve the shortage of skilled labor problem by acquiring the necessary skills. One can thereby meet one's target requirements. Those who are born with skills are geniuses. They are statistically rare. Most people with skills acquired them. They are more common. They come from all walks of life. Both the public and private sectors must make every effort to find, hire, and keep skilled labor. The so-called shortage of skilled labor involves three problems. The lack of skilled labor, the lack of job opportunities for skilled labor, and the inability to retain skilled labor.

Take the lack of skilled labor. To say that Taiwan lacks skilled labor is perhaps an exaggeration. The "lack of skilled labor" may be a lack of labor with the skills to solve certain problems and to meet certain goals. Taiwan has millions of people with Masters and PhDs. On a per capita basis, it ranks number one in the world. Clearly this is not a problem of quantity, but of quality.

Over the past decade, institutions of higher learning have thrown open their doors. Masters degrees are now as commonplace as Bachelors degrees. PhDs are now as commonplace as Masters degrees. This has dramatically reduced the incentive for students to study abroad. It has also created many graduates with advanced degrees but who have few real world skills. They do not meet the educational and training requirements of either industry or society. Those who need skilled labor seldom need academics with broad, generalized knowledge. They need individuals able to think on their own, with the ability to solve problems creatively, with the ability to cope with different challenges at different stages of the game. As a result, education and employment have experienced a serious disconnect.

To cope with surging enrollments, universities have been forced to adopt passive teaching methods. As a result students lack the ability to think for themselves. They lack training in how to innovate. They bury their heads in their books. They never look around at the world. The birth rate is low. National Taiwan University, Tsinghua University, Jiaotong University and other institutions all have trouble recruiting students. The shortage in resources means teachers carelessly assign teaching materials. This, and poor students with no desire to learn, lead to a vicious cycle. No wonder one multinational company said the pool of talent on Taiwan is shallower than a sheet of paper.

Now take the lack of job opportunities for skilled labor. Economic growth on Taiwan has slowed recently. This has reduced employment opportunities. Naturally it has affected worker recruitment. Private enterprises have a variety of mechanisms to seek out and hire skilled labor. They are more flexible, therefore encounter fewer problems. By contrast, government agencies have long had to guard against fraud. This has made them rigid in their hiring practices. Government hiring requires strict adherence to test scores. These determine one's advancement. More senior civil servants require more diverse skills. But promotions are still limited by the civil service system. The government needs creative individuals with a more macro level perspective. Even those willing to accept salaries significantly lower than those offered by private enterprises, are denied the opportunity. Former National Security Council Secretary General Su Chi said the government's lack of talent was the result of twenty years of "too much conservatism, too little creativity."

Finally, take Taiwan's inability to retain skilled labor. The mobility of skilled labor is generally a good thing. As long as one introduces new blood, one introduces new thinking. But Taiwan currently faces a brain drain. The reasons are varied. Low salaries, unreasonable restrictions against the hiring of foreign workers, and the lack of a coherent legal framework are the main culprits that invite universal condemnation.

These problems are particularly serious in research institutions. The Mainland lures away skilled labor with high salaries. Starting salaries for teachers at universities in Hong Kong and Macau have long been four to five times higher than on Taiwan. The "anti-fat cat" initiatives were supposed to prevent sweetheart deals in public works projects. Instead they were misapplied to international caliber talent at the Industrial Technology Research Institute and the National Institutes of Health. These people were engaged in R&D that would help us leapfrog others through rapid innovation. Our competitors offer skilled labor a wide range of benefits. We on the other hand, impose all manner of restrictions. How can we not cause a brain drain?

Many measures protecting domestic labor block more than blue-collar foreign labor. They also prevent the hiring of highly skilled foreign labor, including lawyers, accountants, and other professionals. This illustrates the limits of protectionism.

The shortage of skilled labor is a systemic problem. Upstream we must improve the educational system. Midstream we must increase hiring opportunities. Downstream we must offer incentives to retain skilled labor. Only then can the situation be improved. The first two require restructuring. They must begin immediately. But they will not yield results in the short-term. Therefore we must increase the incentives to attract talent. This includes improved conditions to attract talent from the Mainland, as a short term cure.

人才斷層要上中下游一起解決
【聯合報╱社論】
2012.08.13

國科會主委朱敬一、行政院政務委員管中閔等幾位學界出身的政府首長，近日均對人才斷層問題提出警語。管政委擔心台灣淪為「三流國家」，朱主委更直言問題再不解決，很快會「死狀甚慘」。

其實，過去幾年，不同領域中人才缺乏又迅速流失的問題，一直是各界關注的話題；但問題人人皆知，答案卻不清不楚。二位首長語出驚人，正反映出這種無力感與急迫感。

人才有很多種；有些人才具備與生俱來的異秉，但更多的是經過後天的教育及訓練，而習得能夠持續解決問題、達成目標的能力。前者是天才，原本稀少；而後者則是各行各業，不分公私部門都應該盡力發掘、晉用，並全力留住的對象。因此，所謂人才斷層，至少涉及了沒有人才、晉用無門，以及無法留人等三個層次的問題。

先看沒有人才的問題。若說台灣沒有人才，或許言過其實；但沒有人才，可能是人才數量不敷所需，也可能是人力素質不具備解決問題、達成目標的能力。台灣碩、博士人數即將突破百萬，按人口比堪稱世界第一，所以看來不是量的問題，而是質的問題。

過去十年，我國高等教育廣開大門，讓碩士大學化、博士碩士化，一方面大幅降低了學子出國留學的意願，他方面又未能針對產業、社會所需設計教育訓練內容，導致高學歷卻非高能力的結果。特別是人才養成所需要者，往往不是學富五車的廣博學識，而是主動思考，以創意解決問題的態度及方法，以應付不同階段的挑戰；因此，學用嚴重脫節。

為應付暴增的學生人數，各大學只能採取被動式的教學，使得學生欠缺思考，創新應變的訓練與方法，只會低頭看眼前，從不抬頭看世界。加上少子化趨勢，除台、清、交等名校外，各大專院校都普遍面對招生不易、資源短缺的問題，導致教師無心設計教材，又因學生素質低落而意興闌珊。如此惡性循環，無怪乎有跨國企業指台灣人才比一張紙還薄。

再談晉用無門的問題。台灣近年經濟發展趨緩，就業機會減少，自然影響人才獲得發展的空間。對於私人企業而言，因有各種發掘、晉用人才的機制，而且彈性很高，問題或尚相對較低；反而是政府部門，長期在防弊的思維下，使得晉用管道極端僵化。政府用人，非但一切按考試分數的高低，決定晉用與否，而有更高多元人才需求的高級文官，其選任制度也仍然是以公務員身分為限，致使有助於提供政府更為宏觀、創意的人才，即便願意屈就於明顯低於民營企業的薪資，也沒有參與的空間。前國安會秘書長蘇起感慨政府缺乏人才，比二十年前更加「保守多、創新少」，其來有自。

最後是留不住人的問題。人才流動通常是好事，只要能有新血加入，反而有助於引進更多元的思維。但台灣現在面臨的，卻是人才流出多過流入的人才赤字問題。造成這個局面的原因很多，但偏低的薪資、過於保護的外國人聘用條件，及欠缺完善的配套，皆是千夫所指的主因。

這類問題在研究機構尤其嚴重；除了中國大陸高薪挖角外，香港、澳門的大學教師起薪，早就是我們的四、五倍，而如「打肥貓」等原本應該用在防杜公營事業酬庸的機制，竟也一體適用在如工研院、國家衛生研究院這些需要國際頂尖人才，協助我國研發創新迅速躍進的機構上。在競爭對手多所禮遇，我們卻百般限制的情況下，如何能不造成人才赤字？

同時，許多保護本國勞工的制度，不但防堵外籍藍領勞工，也一樣阻礙外國高階人才的引進。甚至如律師、會計師等專業人士市場，也同樣的基於保護主義而設有諸多限制。

人才斷層是個系統問題；必須從上游改善教育制度、中游增加晉用機會，到下游加強留用人才誘因同步下手，才有辦法加以改善。但前二者涉及體制改革，須要即刻開始，但短期無法見效；所以，強化吸引人才的誘因，改善包含中國大陸在內的外來人才的導入環境，也是因應短期的特效藥。