Due to the global financial crisis, the role of developing countries has risen on the international stage. Therefore, the importance of cooperation with ASEAN - the major trading partner of Korea - is growing more and more. Especially, Vietnam and Indonesia are the major concerns among ASEAN countries because both have successfully overcome the global financial crisis and maintain the stable economic growth. Moreover, both are one of top countries in ASEAN in terms of an inflow of foreign capital. Notable is the fact that Vietnam and Indonesia have much interest about the industrialization in Korea. Also, they recognize that the major driving force of miraculous economic growth in Korea is the accumulation of human capital. Accordingly, they try to figure out the status of their human resource and develop it. The quantity and quality of human resource in Vietnam and Indonesia also matters for Korean firms and government considering them as candidates for the global production network.
Because of the interest in labor market of Vietnam and Indonesia, a lot of researches have done, especially in Japan. Representative ones are ｢アジア企業の人材開発｣ (副谷正信, 2008), ｢アジア 諸国における 労働力の 国外送りだしに関する 調査研究｣ (野村総合研究所, 2009), ｢ベトナム人材力調査報告｣(JETRO 2009). These researches mainly focus on the status of the labor markets, labor policies, and potentials of the labor market in South-East Asia. However, previous researches just end up with simple and plain approach, or depend on subjective data like surveys. Therefore, this research covers the information of labor supplies in Vietnam and Indonesia by profession as well as by population and region, and use various sources like objective data, interviews, and surveys.
Implications of the analysis of labor markets in Vietnam and Indonesia is related to global production network in Asia. In the international production division with China as the center, both countries will complement or partially replace China in terms of production. The key factor to construct the flexible and horizontal structure of the production division is human capital. In this context, this research analyze the status of the labor markets in Vietnam and Indonesia in various perspectives and evaluate them. The conditions in the labor markets is fairly positive. Both have cheap labors and young populations, and moreover, there is virtually no cultural and institutional obstacles. In Vietnam, labors are diligent and enthusiastic to learn new skills. The government also tries to enhance education and labor productivity. Indonesia has the large pool of stable labor force. Despite of complex regulations, low fluctuation is one of strongest advantages. Due to the skyrocketing wage compared with productivity, however, these positive circumstances might not go long. Policy measures for this problem is described below.
First, firms and government should find causes of rising wage and control them. Thoughtless wage increase to scout labors by firms plays a role to boost up wage. Therefore, firms should make commitment not to increase wage if not needed, and not to deprive labors of other firms without proper reason. Also, government should provide firms with the information of the labor markets so that they can be more flexible. Second, firms and government should find the way to increase the labor productivity in a long run for Vietnam and Indonesia not to lose their competitiveness. Firms can internally train workers for a long time, or financially support educational institutions. Korean government can support the policies of local governments for improving productivity. Or Korean government can provide local workers the chance to get a job in Korean labor market to improve their abilities. Third, stabilizing labor-management relations is needed. Especially in Indonesia, occasional strikes hinder foreign investment from times to time. These kinds of labor-management conflicts usually result from cultural differences, not from wage or welfare. Therefore, managers should understand their culture and maximize effective communication. Forth, Korean government can give advice for both countries on policies for industrialization and human capital based on its experience. It is difficult for them to change the industrial structure and to develop human capital by themselves. This kind of advice and cooperation can be beneficial for all in terms of promoting social and economical interaction. Fifth, we should change the way we understand Vietnam and Indonesia. We should not regard Vietnam and Indonesia as poor developing countries any more. There is a very little chance that Vietnam and Indonesia will stay in the low-quality production bases for decades. Therefore, we have to construct the more flexible global production network, which is not vertical network based on technological differences. Accordingly, firms should diversify their investment and expand to high value-added field. Moreover, we have to prepare to sell goods in their domestic market. Finally, we should consider them as future economic partners with high level of income and technology.