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| Sunday, 6 February 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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The creative class and economic success by Lloyd F Yapa. In this column last week, we mentioned that the per capita income growth in Sri Lanka could taper off after 2019/20, as its labour force would have stabilised by about the year 2016 due to the population-aging phenomenon. Even the US$ 4000 level forecast for 2019/20 could be a distant dream, if the rate of GDP growth falls below 8 % (i.e the rate at which per capita income doubles every 10 years). It was also mentioned, that one of the very few ways of averting this crisis is by attracting foreign workers. In fact Richard Florida, writing to the Harvard Business Review, October 2004, under the caption "America's Looming Creativity Crisis", attributes the spectacular success of the US economy to the tremendous influx of (talented) immigrants firstly from Europe and later from all parts of the world. He goes on to add, that countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, the UK, and even Singapore are prospering mainly by outdoing the US at attracting talent from other countries. It is not only the industries, which have benefited from this migration of talent but also other organisations and institutions, particularly the universities in these countries. The latter in turn have become excellent seats of learning and have attracted thousands of students from the rest of the world. Most of them stay behind, as businesses vie with each other to grab the best of them. Florida states, "America's growth miracle turns on one key factor: openness to new ideas". Ideas, which help to improve quality and productivity, come from creative people such as scientists, technologists and other professionals. So that, the number of creative people in a country is an indication of its creativity and by extension its competitiveness and prosperity, or at least its potential to be prosperous. Florida has therefore established a Global Creative Class Index (GCCI) for comparing the creative capabilities of different countries. The calculation involved is simple- division of the number of people in creative employment such as engineers, scientists, professionals, entrepreneurs and artists by the total number in the workforce. A broader definition of the creative class includes technicians as well. According to Florida, the US, which used to occupy the first place in this ranking, is losing ground to other nations such as the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. This is mainly the result of restrictions on entry into the country resulting from its escalating war on terror. In the meantime, Asian nations including India and China are fast catching up, mainly by upgrading their own systems of education and centres of learning and research, to be on par with those of the developed countries. The creative class in Sri Lanka What of Sri Lanka? The figure one gets from dividing the number of professionals as well as technicians and associate professionals in 2003, (garnered from the scrappy data available), by the labour force of 7.6 million, is 9 %. If senior officials and managers are also included, it will go up to 10%. The comparative figures for the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, the leaders of the GCCI, are 47%, 42.4% and 42% respectively. Corollaries The statement, that Sri Lanka's percentage of creative workers is 11% has to be qualified by adding several corollaries. The country does not produce sufficient hard core creative personnel such as scientists and engineers. The government does not possess the necessary resources to increase the output of such cadres or to spend on Research and Development (R&D) to improve processes and products. No effort is made to harness the energies of the private sector for this purpose either. Nor is there a system of encouraging foreign science and technology (S&T) personnel to live and work in the country, despite this shortage. On the other hand, a wave of 'nationalism' is sweeping over the country, sweeping out or keeping out such foreign personnel. Over 80% of students, who complete their secondary education, are denied an opportunity of obtaining a tertiary education in the country itself. Opportunities of learning foreign languages, which serve as the passport for entry into the world repository of knowledge (and the world pool of knowledge workers), are few and far between. On the other hand, the 'brain drain' out of the country is very heavy, as the economy does not generate sufficient opportunities and incentives for its professionals to stay behind or come back from studies overseas. Most of them, who opt to stay in this country, may not be engaged in actual creative work, due to the ambiguity of their role and the absence of any guidance from their superiors. The business sector largely depends on non professional rankers, who are not of any use for product development and adaptation, while the universities, which do possess some creative talent, keep a sort of regal aloofness from such 'mundane' activities. The (political) leaders of the country, (who live in a world of merriment of their own, pulling each other's legs ), either consider they are the 'greatest' (experts) on every subject imaginable or condescend only to consult their own cronies or foreign 'experts', as a last resort. The local varieties, especially those, that retire from service and are fit to work, are seldom summoned. Meanwhile no one has bothered to maintain an up to date data -base of the talent available in the country. The results The actual pool of talent available in the country is therefore quite small. This is why the country is compelled to export most of it products in the primary or semi processed form, allowing workers in other countries to 'skim off the cream' by adding value to them. It is for the same reason, that Sri Lankans are shut out of lucrative job opportunities as knowledge workers in developed countries, while compelling tens of thousands to slave away at demeaning jobs in the richer countries or low paid employment in the local service sector. Poverty will last as long as this situation persists. The remedy The remedy then is to create the right conditions to increase the pool of creative talent in the country. It is success, that begets success- for, which there is a long way to go. In the meantime there are other ways available. The first step to be taken is arriving at a lasting national consensus on key social, political and economic issues. Others include the upgrading of the quality of education, establishing world class centres of learning and research, offering better remuneration to local creative people and attractive incentives to foreign professionals, either as individuals or accompanying foreign direct investments. The paradisiacal beauty of this land, its smiling people and a strong commitment on the part of its leaders to deliver results will do the rest. |
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