Skilled labour plays an important role in ASEAN economic development

DNHN - Free mobility of products and services, as well as skilled workers, is essential for the ASEAN region to thrive and play a role in the world economy.

Restrictions are hindering the development

Within ASEAN some constraints impede the cross-border mobility of skilled labour and the negotiation and implementation of the MRA. The level of economic development and the level of preparedness for the mobility of more skilled labour varies widely among member economies.

The less affluent ASEAN member states are concerned about the prospect of a possible brain drain with greater intra-regional mobility of skilled labourers. More skilled labourers can be poured into richer countries. Wealthier member states are concerned about the equivalence of qualifications; whether the quality of degrees, diplomas, and certificates obtained in the other member is on par with that obtained in the country. These suspicions are supported by professional association lobbies eager to maintain their dominance in the domestic labour market.

A more structural reason hindering skilled labour mobility is that some industries in ASEAN do not have common regional standards. Common sectoral guidelines, if any, could be a necessary pre-requisite before higher-skilled labour mobility is possible. Culture and language also pose limitations.

For example, Thai and Vietnamese are not particularly easy languages ​​to master. A nurse who works well in an English-speaking environment may not be as effective in Cambodia or Thailand. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is equipped to address some of these barriers through its chapter on professional services. This forms the basis for negotiations between two or more signatories on mutual recognition of qualifications. 

ASEAN needs a free environment

Mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) that recognize qualifications obtained in one country as valid in another are an essential policy tool to remove barriers to skilledlabourr mobility. The MRA has a lot on the ASEAN agenda.

As ASEAN member states seek to upgrade technology and with the entry of more advanced industries that develop knowledge-based, skillelabouror will be in greater demand and need to be allowed to move more.

Otherwise, the implementation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0), the adoption of e-commerce and digitization will be delayed. The world talks about driverless cars, electric vehicles, alternative energy sources, robotics, AI, and other developments that will fundamentally change manufacturing, even agriculture, and services. Skilled labour is needed to drive these changes.

ASEAN members may gain an appreciation for the required qualifications required by other countries and their respective knowledge ecosystems. High-skilledlabourr mobility is necessary for deeper ASEAN integration but cannot eliminate the problems inherent to the region. Accepting these challenges, much work needs to be done certainly to encourage the mobility of skilled labour, and ASEAN will suffer significant losses if it does not participate in this integration issue

Another useful ASEAN initiative is the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF) developed in 2014 and revised in 2020. With a regional scope, the framework takes a powerful step towards promoting promote the movement of skilllabourbor. As the AQRF is tasked with developing mutually recognized national degree systems, the AQRF promises to foster mutual understanding and trust in each other's degree systems and educational standards.

Dinh Loi