KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia should emphasise more on human capital and productivity as the country’s economy moves to maturity, says an economist.
The Conference Board executive vice president/chief economist Bart Van Ark said one way to sustain growth over the longer term is to make jobs more productive.
“A lot of the growth in an economy that starts growing and catching up is driven by employment growth, in bringing more people to the labour market in formal jobs.
“The question is how to make them more productive.
“You do that by training the people, investing in their training and skills, by innovating the business, and investing in the organisation to make them more efficient.
“That makes productivity an important driver for growth,” he said.
He was speaking to reporters at a briefing here yesterday on the Malaysian Institute of Management and the Conference Board New York’s 2013 CEO Challenge: The Asia Economic and Business Context.
The Conference Board is a non-profit business membership and research group organisation whose membership comprises about 1,200 public and private corporations and other organisations in 60 countries.
Van Ark also listed the shortage of skilled labour as one of the challenges for Malaysia to integrate into the Asean Economic Committee in 2015.
“Businesses around the Asean region have to rethink about how you can hire, train and retain good talents in your company, this is going to be more important than ever,” he said. — Bernama