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Implications for the circulation of human capital

The challenge of managing the circulation of human
capital is immense, given that even at the UN level, there is

no agency or formal international cooperation mechanism
to regulate labor mobility. A mechanism to assist not only in

managing migration but also in steering temporary migration is
urgently required. It is important to note that sending countries
consider the transient migration of human capital services as

exports, exemplified by the case of the Philippines receiving
remittances from its citizens working overseas. Without the freer

mobility mechanism such as the MRA, circulation of human
capital will continue to be limited and will have implications
to the growing demographic challenges in the succeeding

decades.

ASEAN’s population is becoming older as average life
expectancy increases and fertility rates decline, eventually

leading to a contraction in relative size of the working-age
population. Projections for the next three to four decades

show labor forces in several economies shrinking dramatically.
This poses important challenges to sustain economic growth.
Dependent population in the future will mainly comprise the

elderly. This increases the fiscal burden of member states and
crowd out investments.

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