Case Studies

Background

Brunei is a wealthy nation that maintains a high standard of living and a high rate of economic stability. However, much of the nation’s wealth is dependent on oil and gas exports and national employment is predominantly provided by the public sector. As with other developed nations, Brunei is also experiencing an ageing of its population which has implications for workforce planning, migration and foreign worker policy.

In order to address the objectives set out in Brunei’s national economic development policy, the government wanted to refine it’s understanding of national workforce requirements in the short, medium and long term.

Project Goals

The government of Brunei has developed an overarching long-term development plan, ‘Wawasan Brunei 2035’, which is delivered through five-year National Development Plans.

As part of developing a broader governance framework on workforce planning, baseline data and forecast information was required to understand Brunei’s workforce requirements. The project required a detailed analysis of the current context of employment taking into consideration broad national and international trends. A key part of the project was to identify and match labour force supply and demand with current and future industry requirements.

The information would be used to formulate actions to deliver the objectives of Wawasan Brunei 2035 and inform workforce planning in areas such as teaching, training and provision of scholarships.

REMPLAN’s Involvement

REMPLAN was engaged to work on the project by the lead consultant, SC Lennon & Associates. REMPLAN worked with SC Lennon & Associates to develop a customised framework of Brunei’s current economy and workforce characteristics which was then utilised to produce national forecasts. REMPLAN provided key inputs into developing baseline data and projections for labour market supply and demand in addition to highlighting skill shortages and localisation opportunities.

Results

The government of Brunei was provided with a comprehensive framework for workforce planning to address immediate employment issues and deliver national objectives for a more robust and globally-orientated knowledge economy.

The framework could be utilised to inform a range of policy development in areas of teaching and training as well as foreign worker policy.