Singapore — A global report has Singapore ranked in the ninth spot out of 63 economies in the area of world talent.
According to Swiss business school IMD’s 2020 report, released on Thursday (Nov 12), Singapore is ranked the ninth best country for attracting and nurturing skilled workers, up one spot from last year.
The report measures three factors: Investment and development, appeal and readiness.
Taking the number one spot is Switzerland, which has held the pole position for four years in a row.
Apart from Canada, which is ranked eighth on the list, Singapore is the only non-European country to make it to the top 10.
Here are the top 10 in world talent for 2020
- Switzerland
- Denmark
- Luxembourg
- Iceland
- Sweden
- Austria
- Norway
- Canada
- Singapore
- The Netherlands
In a news release, the IMD World Competitiveness Center said: “Overall, countries in Western Europe remain, on average, the most talent-competitive in the world… But because of their ageing populations, these economies need to remain open and attractive to a young, international, highly-skilled work force in order to offset future labour shortages.”
As for the other countries/territories in Asia and the Pacific, Australia is ranked 13th, Hong Kong 14th, Taiwan 20th and New Zealand 21st.
And as for Singapore’s neighbours, Malaysia is raked 25th and Indonesia 45th. Both countries saw a slight dip from their 2019 rankings.
Singapore has seen gains in the areas of development and investment in 2020, with growth in apprenticeship programmes, employee training, quality of education and female participation in the work force.
However, the country also has to deal with an ageing population, the high cost of living and pollution in the future, the report warned.
Furthermore, the current Covid-19 pandemic may also have had an impact on Singapore’s global talent, as travel restrictions have hindered the country from attracting foreign students who would one day join the work force, which other countries such as the United States and Australia have also experienced.
According to Mr Christos Cabolis, the chief economist at the IMD World Competitiveness Center: ”These countries cannot be sure to lure in the best workers for the time being, and may well look into other ways to be competitive. There is a risk that they will decide to turn inwards in their efforts to revitalise their economies, backtracking in their openness, which will do nothing to attract foreign talent nor retain local talent.”
However, companies all over the globe should make remote work more feasible, he added, which would help solve the issue.
As for Singapore, he added that the country “should keep improving in the areas that have proven to be appealing to foreign talent such as providing a superior quality of life, fulfilling professional opportunities, a safe environment with low criminality rates, good environmental conditions (low level of pollution) and attractive salaries”. /TISG
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