somchai jitsuchon thailand development research institute nesdb-wb 29 january 200 7 bangkok
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A Commentary on. Human Resources Development System, Policy and the Contributions of HRD to Economic Growth in South Korea by ChangWon Jang. With Remarks on Thailand. Somchai Jitsuchon Thailand Development Research Institute NESDB-WB 29 January 200 7 Bangkok. General Comments. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
1
Somchai Jitsuchon Thailand Development Research Instit
ute
NESDB-WB29 January 2007
Bangkok
Human Resources Development System,
Policy and the Contributions of HRD to
Economic Growth in South Koreaby ChangWon Jang
A Commentary on
With Remarks on Thailand
General Comments This is a good paper,
Covers past, present, and future of Korea HR development.
Informative on Korea HR adjustment to changing global environments.
Touches on some important issues, potentially worthy lessons to other countries.
1. Demand-driven HR policy more appropriate than supply-centered policy.
2. Information-age knowledge is key to future success.
3. Higher education is increasingly important. Vocational elements added to regular curriculums.
4. Private sector can play a very crucial role in HR development.
Important Lessons
1. International quality of primary and secondary education promoted rich HR base for subsequent high economic growth, through industrial exports.
2. High tertiary enrollment rate helped deepening industrialization.
3. Workers need global views as well.
4. New paradigm is needed, especially to move away from mass production system. High-tech workers must be expanded. This is utmost necessary given China/India factors.
Some Specific Lessons for
Thailand
5
Thailand’s HR
Situation
Overall Picture
Used to be trapped in low HR development path, relied mainly on depletion of natural resources (deforestation for agric.) and cheap labor (for manufacturing).
Low TFP, low contribution from education. Technological advancement has been
through business managements (+ imported techno), not much value-added in scientific/engineer.
Reallocation of labor from low-productivity agr to higher-productivity non-agr also contributed. This channel is not likely to be reliable in the future, as most young adults in rural areas have already permanently migrated to urban.
Overall Picture
Forced with less abundant natural resources and cheap labors, Thailand started to import foreign workers in the past 10-15 years.
This adjustment might prolonged the need to upgrade the country’s true technological advancement. Large influx of foreign workers might continue, esp. from Myanmar.
However, significant improvement in secondary education since around 1990 has potential to change the country’s HR structure and might induces industrial technological change as well.
At this juncture, hence, lessons from countries like South Korea will prove to be utmost useful.
IMD’s HR Rankings of Thailand vs. Some Competitors
# Skille
d Labor
s
University
Education
Qualified
Engineers
Overall Educati
on
Indonesia 55 57 53 61
Thailand 37 37 46 48
Malaysia 20 37 48 37
Taiwan 16 5 20 19
Korea 47 4 54 42
Japan 18 2 28 23
Singapore 9 3 11 13
Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2006 (cited in Ahuya et.al, 2006)
Recent Improvement in Education
(mostly secondary, some tertiary)
Source: Ahuya et.al, 2006
Roles of Public Policy on Education
Concentrated mainly on supply-side education. Demand-side nearly absent.
Pay too little attention on vocational education. This is true with the latest ‘education reform’ too.
Fiscal decentralization might profoundly change the primary/secondary education system. Not much progress so far.
Comparison of Government
Spending on Education
Quality Problems!......both present and future?
Expected
Actual Gap-Analytical thinking
3.89 2.30 1.59(41%)
- IT 3.57 2.02 1.55(43%)
- Language 3.38 1.93 1.45(43%)
- Communication 3.74 2.42 1.32(35%)
Source: Yongyuth Chalamwong, 2006
Source: Ahuya et.al, 2006
Thai Labor’s Skill
Thai Students’ Test Scores
Roles of Private Sector
Only few big businesses invest in HR.
Medium-size firms have no incentive to invest, fearing losing trained employees to other firms. This ‘public good’ problem likely to last, perhaps until a critical mass of HR investment is reached.
No tight linkage to the public sector.