Human as resource in a country’s progress

By Athula Jayasekera

In my view, the human resource base of a country has to consist of the total population of that country. Every citizen can be considered as an important resource for that country. There is a vast significance of human resources in pushing for growth and prosperity of a nation. A complete freedom to participate in economic activities should be available for anyone. Irrespective of their age, people who have the ability to engage in a productive enterprise should be provided with opportunity, if not they should not be discouraged when they try to engage in some form of activity that they are passionate about.

In a recent YouTube video, I watched, some people belonging to the Silent generation (Born between 1925-1945), who have already contributed to the Japanese Revival after 1945, were seen still contributing to the Japanese Economy by happily engaging in some sort of productive activity. A classic example of including everyone in the country’s development.

There was a significant decision taken by a past Government of our country, inviting retired government servants to provide their services again, this time to teach the English Language to students in government schools in their respective residential areas. It was a progressive decision taken by the government of the day. Even today there are enough of capable retired personalities who could still contribute to the country’s progress.

The human resources of a country should be geared to achieve success in everything they do. They should be exposed to the large picture to make them understand that they are an important cog in the giant wheel of the economy. A country whose human resources are rich in attitudes is capable of developing the country on their own, provided they are given the much-needed opportunities for development.The human resources of a country can lead the path of success. They can transform all other resources productively for development efforts of a country. Humans have proved that they are capable of exploring not only the planet they live but many other planets in their quest to explore the world beyond. A country which boasts of a large population has the advantage over countries whose population is lesser in numbers, if those countries can use this important resource more productively. A nation rich in its human resources will develop faster than others who are not.

World’s population hit 8 billion in numbers, with India and China accounting for little more than 1/3 of mankind and claim the highest human resources base in the world. It is about 67% of the population consisting of Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, yet there is a balance 33% consisting of Gen X and Baby Boomers with about 3% of the Silent Generation. The human resources in the world now constitute a multi-generational resources group of which the composition is high with Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Gen Alpha has not yet hit the job market. Countries with high numbers of younger generation are said to be having an advantage on productivity than countries which have a fairly high aging population. Thus, country wise population statistics are important to design human development plans.

A country’s development has a direct relationship with its human development indicators. Better results can always be achieved through improvement of human capabilities and capacities. Any developing country that has a high volume of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) can contribute vastly to the economy. These SME’s are the greatest providers of employment. Their human resources contribute immensely to the economic development of a country. Yet they are the most affected employee category due to economic vulnerabilities, chaos and uncertainties as most of their employment contracts are informal in nature.

The training and development function is critical in developing the capability of employees of any industry whether they are big or small in their operational scales. The employees of SMEs very rarely receive structured development-oriented training. It is important that a country when designing its human development policies pay more attention to this sector which contributes hugely to a country’s economic growth.

The standard of human resources varies across different organisations, sectors, industries, provinces and in general among countries. There is an important responsibility that every human resource policy designer has, to focus on to design policies to accommodate the development of the most vulnerable employee categories mainly in their capacity building. A well-trained employee is capable of increasing productivity and in turn provide higher economic gains for the organisation and the country.

A human as a resource can play a vital role by contributing in many ways for the economic development of a country and it is necessary that countries pay more attention towards development of human capital consisting all citizens. A non-productive population can be a burden to a country’s economy. Therefore, it is imperative that human development plans should include all the citizens of a country irrespective of their age to have a productive population with right knowledge and skills.