Bangkok--29 Jan--Adecco
Growing talent for today and tomorrow: report highlights importance of ‘employable skills’ and vocational education amid changing labour markets and rising unemployment.
Thailand ranked 61 out of 93 countries
- Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) ranks 93 countries based on their ability to grow, attract and retain talent, as a global talent mismatch sees vacant jobs despite mass unemployment
- The research by INSEAD, HCLI and Adecco Group finds that investments in ‘employable skills’ and vocational education is key to attracting, retaining and developing talent
- As the global economic slowdown and unemployment still pose a threat, businesses and governments must concentrate on overcoming the skills imbalance
- Thailand has good market conditions (enablers) and good performance in growing its own talent, although struggles in attracting talent (inter-regional and from abroad) and in converting existing talent into better performance in terms of employable skills (including global skills) and higher levels of labour productivity.
Fontainebleau (France), Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Zurich – 20 January 2015: INSEAD, the leading international business school, today released the 2014 edition of its annual Global TalentCompetitiveness Index (GTCI). The study, which focuses on the topic of ‘growing talent for today and tomorrow’, was produced in collaboration with the Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore (HCLI) and Adecco Group. The index, which measures a nation’s competitiveness based on the quality of talent it can produce, attract and retain, placed Switzerland at number one, followed by Singapore and Luxembourg in second and third places, respectively.
A total of 93 countries, representing 83.8% of the world’s population and 96.2% of the world’s GDP ($), were analysed for the index, which aims to provide a practical and strategic tool for governments, businesses and not-for-profit organisations to inform policies in areas such as education, human resources and immigration. It found that a focus on ‘employable skills’ and continued investment in vocational education underpins success in developing, attracting and retaining top talent.
2014 Global Talent Competitiveness Index Rankings: Top 10
2014 Global Talent Competitiveness Index Rankings: Top 10
1 Switzerland 6 Sweden
2 Singapore 7 United Kingdom
3 Luxembourg 8 Denmark
4 United States 9 Australia
5 Canada 10 Ireland
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Commenting on this year’s study, Ilian Mihov, Dean of INSEAD, said: “We live in a world where talent has become the core currency of competitiveness - for businesses and national economies alike. Yet there is an all-too-frequent mismatch between education systems and the needs of labour markets. Businesses and governments need new kinds of leaders and entrepreneurs, equipped with the skills that will help their firms and countries to thrive in the global knowledge economy. To help them make the right decisions in an increasingly complex environment, we need the kind of indicators and metrics that GTCI offers.”
As in 2013, GTCI rankings are dominated by European countries, with only six non-European countries in the top 20: Singapore (2), the United States (5), Canada (5), Australia (9), New-Zealand (16) and Japan (20).
Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director of Global Indices at INSEAD, and co-author of the report, commented: “It’s really quite striking that among the top three countries – Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg – two are landlocked and one is an island. Faced with specific geographical challenges and a quasi-absence of natural resources, these countries have had no choice but to be open economies, a critical ingredient to being talent competitive.” He added: “The top countries in this year’s GTCI have played the game of globalisation, and have played it well.” Many of the other economies in the ‘top 20’ have strong immigration traditions, including the United States (4), Canada (5), Sweden (6), the United Kingdom (7), and Australia(9). These high-performing countries also have long prioritised education, as is the case for the other Scandinavian countries, all in the top 15: Denmark (8), Norway (11), and Finland (13).
Paul Evans, The Shell Chaired Professor of Human Resources and Organisational Development, Emeritus, at INSEAD, and co-editor of the report, noted: “Perhaps one of the most interesting findings this year is the renewed importance of vocational education. It’s not just higher education that is important today – vocational learning needs to be integrated into secondary education. In Switzerland, thinking about becoming employable starts off in schools at an early age. At 15, over 70 percent of Swiss school children go on to select what’s known as the apprenticeship track, combining practical work experience with traditional theoretical learning.” He added: “Within the current Swiss government, half of the ministers have come out of the vocational stream. For future talent competitiveness, countries have to take vocational education – that is, employability – much more seriously.”
Patrick De Maeseneire, CEO of Adecco Group, also highlighted the importance of work-based training for growing talent: “The talent mismatch is striking: despite 33 million people looking for a job in the US and Europe, more than 8 million positions are left vacant. Meanwhile, youth unemployment of over 50% persists in some European countries. The push for structural reforms is crucial to create jobs in Europe and to boost the economy. Governments and companies like ours should work hand in hand to create an environment where first job experiences, education and apprenticeships better prepare young people for what companies need.”
Tidarat Kanchanawat, Country Manager, Adecco Thailand, commented: “With Thai companies, particularly those in the area of technology, continuing to expand globally, the need for strong talent development in Thailand is more important than ever before. As a country we need to continually be looking at new ways of developing our talent base”.
Formal education in Asia is progressing by leaps and bounds, fuelled by societal aspirations of the growing middle class. Kwan Chee Wei, CEO of the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI), commented: “In certain Asian countries, there is a need to see value and worth in both professional and technical vocations. Beyond this, traditional hierarchies and bureaucracy in many Asian corporates often hold back openness, transparency and empowerment – important levers in accelerating talent growth.”
The twenty top-scoring countries in the GTCI 2014 are all high-income countries. This is hardly surprising, as rich countries tend to have better universities and a greater ability to attract foreign talents through higher quality of life and remuneration, making them more talent competitive. However, beyond this ‘top-level’ correlation of talent competitiveness with wealth, the GTCI study reveals six key factors affecting talent competitiveness across countries of different GDP per capita and development levels:
Openness is key to talent competitiveness: Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg all have a high degree of openness to trade, investment, immigration and new ideas, embracing globalisation while leveraging their human resources.
Fiscally stable countries need talent competitiveness for sustainable development: mineral- or oil-rich countries, or those with context-specific competitive advantage, should foster talent competitiveness to ensure sustainable prosperity.
Talent growth can be internal or external: some countries like the US successfully focus on developing talent within their own borders, while others such as China attract foreign talent or send their elites abroad for further education.
Countries must consider employability or risk high unemployment: ‘talent for growth’ means meeting the actual needs of a national economy. Switzerland, Singapore and the Nordic countries customise their education systems towards appropriate levels of ‘employable skills’.
Education systems need to reconsider traditional learning: talent development in the 21st century must go beyond traditional formal education and develop vocational skills.
Technology is changing the meaning of ‘employable skills’: technological changes will affect new segments of the labour market, impacting 250 million ‘knowledge workers’ globally.
Notes to editors
Read the report at https://global-indices.insead.edu/gtci
Follow #GTCI2014 for Twitter updates
View the Youtube Knowledge video at http://youtu.be/4EdN0L54Qmc
Download the GTCI 2014 infographic at http://adec.co/GTCI2014Infographic
Watch the GTCI 2014 videographic at http://www.adecco.com/gtci