Scarcity of talents
A talent is a person who has the aptitude or skill to do something well.
In human resource management, a talent refers to an employee who
possesses the potential skills to drive business growth.
Although the Philippines is among the most populous countries in the
Asia Pacific region, with a total population estimated at 111 million, the
country’s demographics is considered young, with about 64 percent of
people between the ages 15 and 64 years old. The young people were
observed to contribute significantly to the economic recovery of the country
after the prolonged lockdowns during the pandemic.
Compared to other countries in Europe and other parts of the world,
the Philippines does not have to worry about demographic winter, since 64
percent of the entire population is able to provide support to the
unproductive or less productive very young population or the aging ones.
Despite this inspiring labor force composition, why does the country
face shortage of talents?
The Department of Health recently disclosed that the country faced a
shortage of 194,000 health personnel including 106,000 nurses and 67,000
physicians as of third quarter of 2022. The country also needs pharmacists,
medical technologists, and physical therapists.
In the accounting and auditing profession, the firms suffered an
exodus of talents who decided to work abroad or to stop working in offices
due to some lucrative online jobs abroad. This is also true to some other
professionals. The trend now for young professionals is to stay in the
Philippines but work for foreign companies and receive a pay almost five
times the salary they receive from local firms.
It is quite troubling to note that despite the scarcity of nurses to work
in local hospitals, many licensed nurses and other health professionals
choose not to work in hospitals and other healthcare facilities due to poor
working conditions. Some licensed health care workers do not mind being
jobless rather than suffer from unhealthy working environment.
President Bongbong Marcos described the Philippines as a victim of our
own success.
With the prices of basic commodities reaching sky-high level, local jobs
paying a pittance to workers can never attract young and aggressive talents.
Rich countries experiencing scarcity of able-bodied persons to serve their
economy will dongle a pot of gold for the best and the brightest Filipino
talents.
What is then left for the Philippines?
This old adage has been trying to remind us: “If you pay peanuts, you
get monkeys.” Of course, this is with very rare exceptions.