Sharing talent: The Asean Youth Mobility Compendium was developed to identify and offer potential solutions to structural barriers to youth mobility such as visa restrictions, lack of crossborder credential recognition, and fragmented policies. — 123rf
AS the fifth-largest economy in the world right now, Asean’s digital economy alone is expected to hit US$1 trillion (RM4.265 trillion) by 2030, with emerging sectors like fintech, green tech, artificial intelligence (AI) and agritech creating demand for skilled talent across the region.
Yet, current mobility systems in Asean are not keeping up with the demand, especially for mid-skilled workers, TVET (technical and vocational education and training) graduates and those graduating in growing industries.
“The talent landscape is shifting fast. By 2030, over 60 million young people will enter Asean’s workforce,” says TalentCorp Group chief executive officer Thomas Mathew at the preview of the Asean Youth Mobility Compendium recently.
“That’s not just a statistic, it’s a generation looking for purpose, skills, and pathways.
“The problem? Most of our crossborder mobility still centres on low-skilled roles.
“Meanwhile, demand is exploding in high-value areas, and we’re not moving talent there fast enough. We must change that pace.”
Asean’s strength lies in its interdependence, he adds.
“Think about the electronics and electrical sector. Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore each play different roles but together they power a regional value chain.
“If talent could move as freely as goods, imagine the shared expertise, the speed of innovation, the mutual benefit.”
That is why the agency, along with the Asia School of Business, has developed the Asean Youth Mobility Compendium, to identify and offer potential solutions to structural barriers to youth mobility such as visa restrictions, lack of crossborder credential recognition, and fragmented policies.
Despite the strong economic case, former Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming acknowledges that youth mobility has not yet become a top-tier policy concern.
“But this does not have to be the case,” he says.
While leaders often cite Asean’s collective GDP and market potential, there is little focus on the region’s youth workforce.
“I think that is something we can change and add into the conversation, because I think that will be of interest to the stakeholders that we want to reach out to, whether it’s international investors or people who want to penetrate the market within Asean,” Ong says.
Don’t be scared of brain drain
Experts say that Malaysia is actually in a good position to champion a new model of regional talent exchange; one that is built on regional trust, collaboration and “brain circulation”.
“Malaysia can be one of the key countries that can spearhead this kind of mobility thinking and implementation.
“We would be in a very good position to be able to spur and also work with other countries in the region, especially those that are on a similar development scale to us, to really grow the talent pipeline and talent pool in Asean,” says Ong.
Or as Asia School of Business associate economics professor Dr Melati Nungsari put it, “We are in a sweet spot within Asean”, in terms of economic development, as we can benefit from both sending people outward and receiving people from other countries.
But despite the advantages, Malaysia continues to treat mobility with caution, due to a long-held fear of “brain drain”, says Melati.
“I was trying to advocate for Asean basically like a European Union-style system, where you can work and do an internship wherever you want within Asean.
“But people are saying, oh, what if we lose all of our skilled talents to other countries? I don’t think that’s the right way to think about it,” she says.
Brain drain will always exist because moving for a job as a concept has existed for thousands of years, she says, so the key is to build a Malaysia that people want to come back to.
Instead of seeing outward mobility as a drain on national talent, she says, we should think about it as a form of circulating talent while building their capacity.
“So it’s more about creating a Malaysia that people want to stay in rather than preventing people from moving out.
“The point is you build people, you don’t restrict people.
“You should go get more experience and then hopefully come back,” she says.
Ong says Malaysia is well-placed to spearhead a youth mobility movement within Asean. — KAMARUL ARIFFIN/The Star Brain drain will always exist, so instead of fearing it, we should work to build a Malaysia people want to return to, says Melati.
Passport for the privileged?
Outward mobility may elicit fears of brain drain, but inward mobility gets people worrying about their country being flooded by unskilled migrants, says Ong.
So there is a need to focus on the skilled portion of the youth workforce to “sell” this from a political perspective, he adds.
“The three areas that I think our focus should be on would be, firstly, financial services, given the fact that crossborder digital payments are growing very quickly, and that ecosystem is something that we can invest in.
“The second area would be in higher education in terms of students and academics as well, and the third one would be in the smart manufacturing ecosystem, specifically the electronics and electrical area, which is growing very important from a global supply chain perspective.”
But to expand mobility, it’s not just about opening doors but also making sure more people can walk through them.
“Mobility should not become a passport for the privileged,” reminds Malaysian Employers Federation vice-president Mohd Farid Shah Mohd Basir.
Most crossborder mobility currently tends to benefit youths from urban, middle-to-upper-class backgrounds who have more access to such opportunities, creating a silent gap between the haves and have-nots.
“Most of my peers studied abroad, especially in the UK, and backpacking across Europe was the norm for them, but for many Malaysian local graduates like myself, even a short trip to Jakarta for our final semester farewell is seen as a once-in-a-lifetime experience of going outside Malaysia.
“And that gap in exposure and mobility is real and it’s quite often unspoken,” shares a Malaysian graduate who attended the preview.
If Asean is to truly unlock the potential of its youth workforce, the freedom to learn, work, and grow across borders must be made accessible and not just aspirational.
