Manpower Inc. Advises Asian Businesses to Develop Effective Strategies to Unlock the Human Potential of Their Workforce to Ensure Competitive Edge

MILWAUKEE, Jan. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Manpower Inc. (NYSE: MAN), world leader in innovative workforce solutions, warns that businesses in Asia will need to increase their talent attraction and retention efforts in the face of a fiercely competitive labor market as economic growth in the region accelerates, in an environment where access to talent is now the key competitive differentiator.

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Manpower's recent Fresh Perspectives paper, "Winning in China: Building Talent Competitiveness," explains that China's rapid economic growth is resulting in an escalating war for talents between multinationals and Chinese private-owned companies with the country's working population aging and talent shortages becoming more acute.

Manpower's latest Employment Outlook Survey revealed that employers in the region continue to lead the global economic recovery — with employers in India and China reporting the strongest hiring intentions globally for the first quarter of 2011, yet that recovery is under threat due to a lack of the right people with the right skills being available in the right place.

"Employers across Asia tell us they are feeling the effects of the talent mismatch," said Jeffrey A. Joerres, Manpower Inc. Chairman and CEO. "Manpower is helping to address this problem in the region by working with employers to identify future potential talent pools and develop their workforce strategies to best support their business needs.

"Our survey shows that growth in Asia Pacific, and more specifically in China and India, is showing no signs of slowing, so employers must identify and leverage untapped talent pools to ensure they have the people they need to drive business growth. This means not only developing attractive training or benefits packages, but also offering clear development opportunities to their existing employees and considering leveraging social networks, virtual working and flexible work practices to attract and retain business-critical talent from traditional and undertapped labor pools."

In addition to increased mobility, the rise in access to technology across Asia, and in India and China specifically, is also having a transformational effect on the way people live and work in the region. Use of mobile technology and social networks has sky-rocketed and enabled technology to become an effective leveler. Skilled individuals vault traditional restrictions such as physical location and are liberated to dictate how, when and where they work.

In the past, ignoring the rise of technology and in particular social networks, could be considered a missed opportunity. Today, however, not leveraging social networks as commercial networks for organizations should be considered a business risk.

"Employers should become familiar with domestic social media platforms; social media usage in Asia is growing fast and is significantly ahead of other developing countries, partly as a result of increasingly disparate populations, both within and outside of country borders and particularly in China - where rural to urban migration, and coastal to inland migration continues to rise, resulting in millions more people each year turning to social networks to connect with friends, family, and potential employers," added Joerres. "Demographic changes in the region also contribute to the need for employers to act quickly if they are to have the talent in place to meet their business needs. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in China, where the number of people aged 60 or over is expanding rapidly, and already forms 12.5% of the nation's population."

About Manpower Inc.

Manpower Inc. (NYSE: MAN) is the world leader in innovative workforce solutions; creating and delivering services that enable its clients to win in the changing world of work. With over 60 years' experience, Manpower offers employers a range of services and solutions for the entire employment and business cycle including permanent, temporary and contract recruitment; employee assessment and selection; training; outplacement; outsourcing and consulting. Manpower's worldwide network of nearly 4,000 offices in 82 countries and territories is the largest in the industry and enables the company to meet the needs of its 400,000 clients per year, including small and medium size enterprises in all industry sectors, as well as the world's largest multinational corporations. The focus of Manpower's work is on raising productivity through improved quality, efficiency and cost-reduction across their total workforce, enabling clients to concentrate on their core business activities. Manpower Inc. operates under five brands: Manpower, Manpower Professional, Elan, Jefferson Wells and Right Management. More information on Manpower Inc. is available at www.manpower.com .

SOURCE Manpower Inc.