ASIA BRIEFING: CHINA MAY have a talent pool of 1.3 billion people to draw on, but finding staff with the right skills isn't always easy, Chinese CEOs say in a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Skillsets could prove to be a potential game-changer for the growth prospects of Chinese firms.
PwC’s global CEO survey shows that 54 per cent of respondents in China – far higher than the global average of 31 per cent – say a talent crunch has prevented their business from innovating effectively.
“What the survey shows is that the leaders of big business in China and Hong Kong are saying there is not an unlimited supply of skilled people, and that people are needed to drive business growth,” says Andrew O’Callaghan, leader of PwC Ireland’s China practice.
China’s middle class is expected to be 40 per cent of China’s population by 2020 and 66 per cent of the world’s middle class by 2030. This will create a vast new domestic consumer market that is expected to drive the Chinese economy. This talent challenge can be seen in all sectors of activity, especially among senior and middle managers.
Only a third of the 160 China and Hong Kong-based CEOs polled are very confident they will have the necessary talent to execute their strategies in the next three years.
“China speed”, the term for the breakneck pace – where products are designed, factories equipped and production ramped up in a small amount of time – appears to hit a speed bump when it comes to creating the right talent, he said. To bolster workforces, half of China CEOs plan to expand their headcount by more than 5 per cent this year, compared to 28 per cent globally.
However, 59 per cent say it is increasingly difficult to hire in their industry. This offers great opportunities for Ireland.
“There is an opportunity for Ireland to be a location,” O’Callaghan says. “We have a pool of skilled labour and we can position ourselves in Ireland as a location within Europe. There is the beginning of a talent squeeze in China and we can possibly offer solutions.”
Ireland needs to work on awareness among Chinese companies and reinforce the message that it is a knowledge economy with skilled people available.
