Research from ManpowerGroup finds 77% of employers in the Asia-Pacific region are struggling to find skilled employees, particularly in the IT, data, engineering, and marketing sectors.
By Maggie Mancini
Nearly four in five employers in the APAC region are struggling to find skilled talent, with 77% reporting difficulties, according to the latest Talent Shortage Survey from ManpowerGroup. This exceeds the global average of 74%, underscoring the persistent talent shortage impacting employers across diverse industries.
The survey, which gathered insights from 10,095 employers across APAC, indicates the most difficult skills to find are IT and data (32%), engineering (27%), and sales and marketing (24%). The APAC IT sector is experiencing the highest level of talent scarcity, with 81% of employers in the sector noting they are facing talent shortages.
“The persistent talent shortages highlighted in this report suggests the talent shortage has become a structural feature of the regional labour market which employers must navigate, especially in the IT sector where the shortage is being most heavily realised,” says François Lançon, regional president of Asia Pacific and Middle East at ManpowerGroup. “In a talent short market, employers must act quickly and decisively to secure the necessary skills for growth or commit to developing the talent they need internally through a targeted learning and development program.”
The report suggests the need for internal learning and development programs is being taken seriously with 35% of companies indicating they are focussing on upskilling and reskilling their current workforce to bridge skill gaps.
The survey reveals organisations are taking multiple approaches to address talent scarcity:
- upskilling and reskilling (35%);
- increasing wages (30%);
- offering more schedule flexibility (26%);
- targeting talent pools (25%); and
- offering more location flexibility (21%).
