If you ever wondered who all those people are sitting behind notebook computers enjoying cups of coffee and having long discussions are - those are the most talented at work. They set up short-term projects, work together, collapse the project when it's done, move somewhere else, do it again. The type of job insecurity that highly skilled people demand is anathema to the union movement.

Yet, if you are unemployed and struggling to find a job in Africa, you are also probably unskilled. If you are skilled - and especially if you have good technical skills - then you're probably working harder than you've ever worked in your life while earning well. In a recent international survey, the Corporate Executive Board polled senior human resources managers around the world about their main concerns. Some 62% worried about company-wide talent shortages. More than two-thirds declared "attracting and retaining" talent was their number one concern.

At the same time a major demographic shift is taking place: the baby boomers are getting ready to retire. By one estimate half the top people at America's 500 leading companies will retire over the next five years.

International competition for recruiting the best and brightest is hotting up. Infosys, the Indian technology giant, spends $ 100 million a year on training.

It is no wonder that, with all this competition, TCS - an Indian software company intending to hire 30 000 software engineers over 2007 - has a sign at the entrance to their building: "Warning, trespassers will be recruited."

This is wonderful news for anyone who had the good fortune and ability to get a technical qualification. If you're unskilled and struggling it's a disaster.

African countries have to compete on an international level with everyone else to ensure that critical skills are available to support their economies. Most, with their inept governments and chronic instability, are doing a phenomenal job of exporting their best and brightest to other countries.

For those who say, "What should we care about talent, we have all these unemployed people, let them work." The simple answer is that any business requires a core of talented, skilled individuals who will set up and run the show. The balance of employees are less skilled and don't have the abilities necessary to create business for themselves. If they did, they'd already be doing so.

Continuing integration of markets will make jobs around the world more subject to competitive pressures. "As trade expands and technologies rapidly diffuse to developing countries, unskilled workers around the world - as well as some lower-skilled white collar workers - will face increasing competition across borders," says Uri Dadush, Director of the World Bank's Development Prospects Group and International Trade Department. "Rather than trying to preserve existing jobs, governments need to support dislocated workers and provide them with new opportunities. Improving education and labour market flexibility is a key part of the long-run solution."

Without this, even should they stabilise, African countries won't have the core group of ambitious, talented locals necessary to create sufficient wealth to create the virtuous circle of stability and growth.