Jobs Special Report

Globalization changes and technological advancements affect and work as a driving force for each other and in the process leads to innovation, new forms of work organization, changes in the nature of work and new occupational categories.

With these changes, human resource (HR) development takes the position of significance. In Pakistan we are still striving hard to generate a vision for HR which is very important for our national path to progress to face the global challenges.

According to the World Bank, there are three main components of economic growth, they are as follows:

*Human capital 64 per cent

*Physical capital 16 per cent

*Natural capital 20 per cent

It is a hardcore fact that economic growths are possible only to the extent that human resources are competent to meet the developmental requirements. The economic growth, if not properly managed, can be jobless, voiceless, ruthless, rootless and futureless, and thus detrimental to human resources development.

The links between economic growth and human resources development must be deliberately forged and regularly fortified by skilful and intelligent policy management. It identifies employment as critical for translating the benefits of economic growth into the lives of people. But for this to happen, new patterns of growth will need to be developed and sustained well into the 21st century - and new mechanisms must be developed to integrate the weak and the vulnerable into the expanding global economy.

We must consider it as an essential investment on HR community and not as an expenditure. This investment is far more important than building roads, bridges or power-houses. We must first build our people. It is imperative that they (policy makers) direct their attention and energies towards HR development and improvements in order to achieve sustained economic growth and social development in the 21st century. Human resources are of great importance for a poor country like Pakistan. The increasing globalization and the forces driving it are posing serious challenges to organizations throughout the world, particularly to the third world countries. One of the very important aspects of human resources development is the support of business houses at the national and international levels. Only those organizations, which understand the new environment and growing complex competition and have the ability to provide appropriate responses to the challenges will survive and grow. The following is the level of per-capital investment in human capital development in various developing countries of the world:

Country Investment in HRD

*Pakistan $10

*India $31

*Indonesia $54

*Malaysia $150

*South Korea $160