Rushan Ziatdinov

The Korea Times recently reported about the results of a survey in which human resources officials at Korea's top 1,000 companies said they believe a drastic demographic shift will cause an economic plight in the near future, and among them, 45.8 percent said their biggest concern is labor supply.

While labor supply in manufacturing and agriculture can be solved through agreements with developing countries, attracting and retaining high-skilled talent is more challenging for Korea. Highly skilled talent always looks for better places for themselves and their families and can be more mobile. It is no secret that there are many countries in the world that would be interested in having more highly skilled talent — research-oriented engineers, postdoctoral fellows, research scholars, and professors.

So what can Korea offer to international high-level talent so that such people will come and work here, not somewhere else, and integrate harmoniously and peacefully into society? For example, why would a highly talented person from a leading country in terms of GDP based on purchasing power parity, such as China, the United States, India, Japan, Germany or Russia, come and work here? These are good questions, and they need to be addressed carefully, because it's very important for the bright future of the country, given the demographic issues it faces.

First of all, it is necessary to carry out a more systematic study of the needs of various organizations for highly qualified workers, as well as a forecast of the potential shortage of workers in all sectors and subsectors of the economy. Then it's important to better advertise available jobs by writing detailed job descriptions and specifications in........

© The Korea Times