Human Capital Competitiveness in ASEAN Economic Community (AEC): The Role of Regulation, Indonesia Experiences

Abstract

The AEC is an economic integration between ASEAN countries with the creation of a free market generally in the context of capital, goods and services and labor. The AEC opens the gate for all countries to invest and have better mutual cooperation. Indonesia experienced a big leap from 50 to 37 in the World Economic Forum (WEF) competitiveness ranking. As the largest population in the ASEAN, Indonesia must work harder to compete with the advanced educated labor force from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Some challenges to develop the human capital. The problems that exist in the context of human resources and labor in Indonesia today such as lack of expertise, low education, inadequate facilities, low competitiveness, unemployment, imbalance salaries, low productivity and many others, but these problems do not make Indonesia retreat and avoiding the free market competition. MEA 2015 should not lead Indonesian labor plunged in their own home, but MEA expected to drive Indonesian workers able to exchange experiences and advance skill from other countries.