Employment In Australia Can Help You Step Into The Asian Century

Here are 16 staggering facts about Asia's growth, and why employment in Australia is a great way to get plugged into the continent

Photo credit: Flickr user: michaelvito

The Australian government is bracing itself for the economic shift to the East and employment in Australia can be a stepping stone to these opportunities.

A White Paper, Australia in the Asian Century, recently issued by the Australian government, outlines the nation's plan to seize the economic opportunities and manage the strategic challenges that will arise from this shift.

Some of the plans listed include ensuring that decision makers in Australian business, parliament, national institutions and advisory forums have a deep expertise in countries in the region.

Boards will be encouraged to include more business people with direct experience from within the region the Australian Institute of Company Directors has been asked to integrate Asian cultural competency into its training company directors.

Perth Graduate School of Business is one of the first business schools to spring into action by organizing a series of seminars targeted at how business professionals can take advantage of Australia's proximity and connections to Asia.

The first session, on 8th April will discuss the White Paper. The seminar series, titled Australia and Asia: The Future for Them, Us & You will be hosted by Ernst & Young Advisory partner Wim Hoogedeure and senior consultant Nicole Cooper.

Wim joined the firm in 1990 in Perth, the first recruit after the merger of Arthur Young and Ernst & Whinney. He moved with the firm to Melbourne in 1996, to Hong Kong in 1999 and to Singapore in 2001. He then left the firm to take senior leadership positions with Vsource, DHL Express and Fosters, before returning.

At the session, students will be able to discuss opportunities and career choices in a variety of businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises, that the Asian century will bring.

The Asian century offers careers in mining and resource-related sectors, as continued economic development in the region will drive demand for energy and mineral resources.

Growing affluence in Asia is boosting demand for services such as tourism, sport, education, the arts, banking and finance, and science and technology.

Agriculture is also a hot sector, and one where Australia has a competitive edge. Rising food demand is connected to rising populations and an expanding middle class in Asia.

Australian businesses can comptete in sectors such as environmentally sustainable growth, natural resource management, infrastructure development, urban design and health and aged care, offering high-value products and services.

Wim and Nicole will also share details of Ernst and Young’s Advisory practice and insights into life as a management consultant.

Now, here are 16 facts to chew on!

In the past 20 years, China and India have almost tripled their share of the global economy and increased their absolute economic size almost six times over. By 2025, the region as a whole will account for almost half the world’s output.
Australia’s public finances are among the strongest in the world. Government debt is low. Financial institutions are sound and it has the highest possible sovereign credit rating.
Between 2000 and 2006, around a million people were lifted out of poverty every week in East Asia.
East Asia now accounts for almost one-third of world trade in manufacturing, and the intermediate goods trade accounts for more than half of all intra-regional trade in East Asia. China has become the main trading nation for almost all regional nations. Now the world’s largest exporter, China’s share of global value-add manufacturing has doubled over the past decade.
Urbanisation has transformed Asian societies. Urbanisation in Asia involves around 44 million people.
China is now the world’s largest energy consumer, having gone from consuming less than half as much energy as the United States in 2000, to consuming slightly more today. China accounts for almost half of the world’s coal consumption. Having been largely self-sufficient in coal until recently, China has quickly emerged as the world’s largest importer of coal. Between 1990 and 2009, energy consumption in Asia more than doubled and the region’s share of global energy consumption increased from 25 to 38 per cent .
China’s commodities-intensive growth has also seen it become the world’s largest consumer of steel, aluminium and copper, accounting for around 40 per cent of global consumption for each. China’s growth and technological change have also demanded lesser-known materials. Demand has increased for manganese (used in the production of stainless steel), antimony (electronics), scandium (aluminium alloys) and zircon (ceramic glazes). This is a boon for Australia, which supplies many of these raw materials!
China has overtaken South Korea in scientific research publications and also recently overtook Japan on a number of measures, such as research and development expenditure and national output of scientific publications. In 2010, Japan overtook the United States to become the highest producer of triadic patent families (a set of patents taken at the European Patent Office, the Japanese Patent Office and the US Patent and Trademark Office), while South Korea was fifth. India and Indonesia are also becoming knowledge creators.
Between 2000 and 2011, the number of automobiles per 100 urban households in China is estimated to have risen from less than one to more than 18; the number of computers from eight to 80; the number of mobile phones from 16 to over 200; and microwave ovens from 16 to 60.
Intra-regional tourism has boomed and popular culture is now shared across Asia as more people throughout the region and the world discovered Japan’s J-pop and manga, Hong Kong cinema, South Korean soaps and Bollywood films. Every week, 2.3 million more people in Asia and the Pacific are connecting to the internet.
By 2025, four of the 10 largest economies in the world will be in the region—China (first), India (third), Japan (fourth) and Indonesia (tenth). China could overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy by 2014 in real purchasing power parity terms.
Although the conditions of Asia’s poor have improved markedly, the incomes of the rich have been growing at a faster rate. Gaps have widened along rural-urban, gender and ethnic lines. Gender inequality has also become pronounced, particularly in South Asia: in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, women are half as likely as men to have a job or be looking for work. While education levels have improved in aggregate, gaps remain in education opportunities between young people in high and low-income households and between men and women. Three-quarters of women in the lowest income quintile in India have no education.
The Indian Ocean is surpassing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans as the world’s busiest and most strategically significant trade corridor. One-third of the world’s bulk cargo and around two-thirds of world oil shipments now pass through the Indian Ocean.
Australia currently provides Japan with well over three-quarters of its coking coal, for steel production, half of its thermal coal, for power generation, and iron ore. Australia now supplies around 40 per cent of Chinese demand for iron ore, accounting for two-thirds of Australia’s total iron ore production. India is the second-biggest importer of Australian coking coal, behind Japan.
Close to one in 10 of Australia’s population identifies with Asian ancestry. Today, there are more speakers of Chinese languages in Australia than speakers of Italian or Greek. In the year 2010–11, for the first time in Australian history, Britain was not the main source of permanent residents: more people moved here from China than from any other country, and in 2011–12, India was the number one source of permanent migrants. Australians are also increasingly living, working and traveling in the region. Nearly four in 10 of Australians who emigrated moved to an Asian country in 2011–12. In 2011, 3.5 million Australians visited to Asia, mostly Southeast Asia.
Australia plans to lead the way in securing environmental sustainability for the future. Australia is focused on being a world leader in sustainable food production, sustainable energy and water use, and in biodiversity conservation. It has committed to ensuring that 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity is generated by renewable energy sources by 2020.