‘India’s workforce quality is superior’

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At the moment, we see a strong demand for middle and senior management due to shortage of talent. We also see great potential in specialised general staffing.

If we look at global trends, do you find more executives looking for job opportunities in India?

The language and cultural understanding is key to the success of executives, especially in the Asian market. If executives speak the local language and have international expertise, I see great opportunities in India.

What sectors are attracting these people and what are the key concerns?

We especially see great demand in the information technology and automotive sectors, notably also for engineers.

Do you find Indian salaries beginning to approach global salary levels?

We see a closing of the gap with the salary levels in the western world, especially for the higher-skilled employees . We do not anticipate any immediate impact from the rising rupee on overall salary levels.

What do you think of the workforce quality in India across different levels?

India’s work force quality is superior. I will give you some examples: in India we have the largest English-speaking population outside of the US, which is important in an increasingly globalised world. India has a booming IT industry and no worldwide company can successfully compete without a state-of-the-art IT infrastructure. The workforce is cost-effective, highly educated and has a high level of cross-border mobility.

With greater globalisation and integration of individual economies, should we still have cumbersome visa regulations and caps on the number of professionals allowed to enter particular countries?

Adecco approaches candidate mobility on a global scale. Adecco, for example, trains employees in Poland to work in Norway and nurses from Bangladesh to work in Italy. As a company with global reach, we are able to identify talent needs around the globe. In general terms, we see deregulation and the lowering of entry barriers for labour as a great benefit for the worldwide economy. Over time, we will begin to see the benefits from the new Chinese labour law, which will come into force as of January 1, 2008.

Given the changing world demographic profile, do you see any key trends when it comes to the migration of labour?