The Impact of ASEAN Economic Community on Workforce: Human Resources Planning

Abstract

Asean Economic Community (AEC) is the part of a larger plan for the ASEAN Community while its five main pillars, namely free trade in goods, free trade in services, free flow of skilled labor, free flow of investment, and a free flow of capital. Each pillar supports the goal of a single market and production base. It is ultimately imperative that member states somehow ensure this balance to prevent economic domination by certain member states. Likewise the non-discrimination in the recruitment or employment process of staff to ensure that both local and foreign workers are offered equal opportunities in seeking employment can foster unemployment among citizens if their skills and work ethics are inferior to those of the foreigners. While competitiveness and open market is good for business, some leeway for affirmative measures may be needed to give a leg-up to the local people. For success in the global business arena, human resource planning should be part of the strategic management process, both in terms of strategy formulation and strategy implementation.