UK 'knowledge worker' shortage cited; BPO opportunity seen
Posted August 04, 2008MANILA, Philippines--The current shortage of "knowledge workers" in the United Kingdom is good news for the country's outsourcing push in Europe.
A recent report from The Work Foundation, a London-based research and consultancy firm, said that the UK will need to attract more highly skilled workers from overseas for its high technology and "'knowledge intensive" industries.
The report's author noted that numbers are "relatively low," with only 167,000 high skilled workers in the country.
Reached for comment, Stephanie Weber, European IT Services Center (EITSC) business development manager, said UK companies have been suffering from the skills shortage for some time now.
According to the report, Filipinos are the third largest group of highly-skilled migrant workers, with a population of around 10,000. Indian nationals are by far the largest group with more than 45,000 followed by about 25,000 workers from the United States.
Next to the Philippines is South Africa (8,000) and Australia (6,500).
Under the previous work permit regime in the UK, 24 percent of highly skilled migrants were ICT professionals, 13 per cent were service managers and almost 10 percent in the healthcare sector.
"Politicians need to actively make the case for highly skilled migration," a statement that accompanied the report said, warning that "a climate of hostility towards immigration in general has the potential to harm the ability of firms to attract skilled, talented people from abroad."
The current legal environment means non-European immigrants will not be able to close the gap, Weber added.
"To cover the current demand companies have only one other choice: export the work (at least for the industries where this is possible," she added in an e-mail to INQUIRER.net.
Weber, also heads Team Europe, a private sector-led coalition promoting the Philippines as a BPO destination in Europe.
"This is a chance for the Philippine BPO industry to grow with the European market. They need to offshore now and--looking at the demographics--this trend won't change in the future," she added.
Meanwhile, Katerina Rüdiger, author of the report titled, "Towards a Global Labor Market?" said companies going global need people not just to fill shortages but also to innovate.
"The UK's best bet for making the most of globalization is to tap the increasing flows of highly qualified people around the world," she said.
Source: INQUIRER.net, June 09, 2008
by Lawrence Casiraya
