Achieving Skill Mobility in the ASEAN Economic Community Challenges, Opportunities, and Policy Implications

Despite clear aspirations by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to create an effective framework to facilitate movements among skilled professionals within the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by December 2015, progress on the ground has been slow and uneven. It is thus critical to lay out a realistic roadmap toward freer movement for the citizens of the region for the next decade and beyond. This will involve a two-pronged strategy. First, ASEAN Member States need to cooperate in the short to medium term to fully address the immediate challenges in recognizing the qualifications of mobile professionals and increase their access to the region’s labor market. Second, governments should also take a longer-term view by investing in national training and education systems that prepare workers in accordance with common ASEAN-wide standards. True progress often comes in fits and starts but a sustained effort and commitment at the highest levels is always required.