Taiwan’s brain drain is one of the most alarming threats to its sustainable development. While the government has announced plans to address the problem, the private sector also needs to shoulder its share of responsibility by creating a more attractive environment for high-caliber professionals.
In May Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ning pointed out a worrying observation from an earlier trip to the U.S. West Coast—compared to earlier periods, very few of the young faculty members at leading California universities are from Taiwan. The number of local students pursuing advanced studies at overseas institutions is also on the decline, he added. “This diminishing pool of foreign-trained academics and researchers bodes ill for the country’s future development.”
Echoing Chiang’s assessment, Yip Ming-chuen, vice president of Hsinchu City-based National Tsing Hua University, noted that students returning from abroad played a key role in the nation’s rise to a global technological heavyweight during the 1970s and 80s. “The country’s graduates need more international exposure to help Taiwan excel in the next wave of global competition,” he added.
Minister without Portfolio Kuan Chung-min said at a Cabinet technological advisory meeting in August, “Human resources are the foundation of Taiwan’s national competitiveness.
“If we do not take a more aggressive approach to solving the talent shortage, Taiwan will soon become a second- or third-rate country.”
Several factors contribute to the present situation, Kuan said. These include a serious gap between supply and demand for quality employees; a rigid education system that is out of touch with the business sector; and failure to attract global professionals to Taiwan.
Minister without Portfolio Kuan Chung-min urges further easing of Taiwan’s immigration and labor regulations as a way to address the nation’s talent migration.Taiwan produces nearly 300,000 university graduates every year, Kuan noted. And yet businesses, in traditional and high-tech sectors alike, often complain about not being able to fill their openings, graduates have difficulty landing decent jobs, and society generally sees the younger generation as lacking global vision and professional skills. “When everybody is complaining, something must have gone wrong.”
Cyrus C.Y. Chu, minister of the National Science Council, also highlighted the gravity of the situation during a recent NSC advisory meeting. Along with other causes, he pointed out, “Taiwan’s low salaries are driving the most capable away from the island.” At the same time, the country has not been able to attract enough skilled workers from abroad. “Taiwan has become a net exporter of talent,” he said.
Chu said one of the major reasons is Taiwan’s unfriendly environment for foreign professionals, including strict immigration laws that make hiring really top-notch specialists next to impossible. Of the 450,000 foreigners working in Taiwan during the past 10 years, over 400,000 were blue-collar laborers, while around 20,000 were English teachers, he added. “These are not the kinds of skilled workers who can help Taiwan innovate and thrive.”
The problem is so alarming that Shanmugarantnam Tharman, Singapore’s deputy prime minister and minister of finance, warned in April that the city state, which is also experiencing a loss of skilled people, risks becoming a “Taiwan story” if it closes its doors to foreign professionals. Tharman also believes Taiwan’s declining wages are a result of the country’s talent migration. To turn the situation around, Chiang said, the MOE is working on the country’s first white paper on talent cultivation, while the Cabinet is directing relevant agencies to step up implementation of talent development projects in sectors targeted for strategic promotion, with a focus on revision of immigration and labor regulations.
Premier Sean C. Chen (second from left, top) heads discussion of human resource development at a Sept. 3 Cabinet meeting.Offering a different perspective, C.C. Chang, a research and development manager at a local panel company, believes Taiwan is still an excellent breeding ground for top R&D professionals. “But the overconcentration of skilled workers in only a handful of high-tech firms may be an even more serious problem,” he said, based on his years of recruiting experience.
Amid Taiwan’s generally low salaries, industry heavyweights offering generous bonuses, such as HTC Corp., MediaTek Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., snap up most of the country’s top graduates every year, while the majority of other firms are unable to find new blood.
“Such imbalances do not augur well for the overall development of Taiwan’s economy,” Chang said. “But this is a problem that lies with the private sector, not the government.”
Many observers attribute Taiwan’s talent exodus to the rise of mainland China as an economic powerhouse. In a recent survey by a Taipei-based job placement agency, 77 percent of local respondents saw working on the other side of the strait as an opportunity for better career development and increased international exposure.
Chang Yu-yu, 29, works for the Shanghai branch of a leading international public relations agency. Educated in Taiwan, Singapore and the U.K., he worked briefly for a local hospital before deciding to pursue an advanced business degree and a career on the other side of the strait.
“I don’t think mainland China is the major reason behind the brain drain,” he said. “The problem lies in Taiwan itself, especially the private sector. As I see it, the biggest difference between the two job markets is in the prospects for pay and benefits.”
In mainland China, high achievers are greatly appreciated and rewarded with competitive packages, and companies are very willing to invest in human resources, he noted. “Many Taiwanese firms complain about not being able to find qualified employees, but they are still reluctant to offer decent salaries or change their hiring practices.”
Chang Yu-yu believes Taiwan-grown professionals still show higher standards in their work attitudes and capacity for independent and creative thinking, qualities highly sought after by many Asian employers. And most Taiwanese working on the other side would be willing to come home if they were adequately rewarded, he added.
“Local companies really need to see employees as an asset that can help their business grow, rather than just an expendable item in their cost efficiency schemes.” (THN)
Write to Meg Chang at sfchang@mail.mofa.gov.tw