Asia lags behind in Global Talent Competitiveness
- Daniel Teo
Singapore is the only Asian country to make it to the top 10 of the 2020 Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) by INSEAD.
The South East Asian nation lost out to United States and Switzerland, who retained its top spot since the Index was launched in 2013. The next highest ranked Asian countries are Japan in 19th, Malaysia in 26th, South Korea in 27th, China in 42nd while Philippines came in 46th.
Countries are evaluated based on six pillars namely Enable, Attract, Grow, Retain, Vocational and Technical Skills and Global Knowledge Skills. And Singapore came in first in three of the pillars – Enable, Attract, and Global Knowledge Skills.
The worrying trend from the report is the significant and growing gap separating the top nations from the rest of the global community especially the developing countries who do not boast of the same resources.
But there are signs of growth for lower-middle-income countries such as Indonesia who has risen 20 places in the rankings since 2015 to 53rd spot while India rose 10 spots to 66th.
The report also showed a massive reskilling required of the workforce at all levels to prepare them for the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It also noted that communities or societies acceptability is critical for sustainability when introducing AI to organisations.
“There is little question that AI is a game-changer in every industry and sector. At this critical juncture, the race for AI-capable and AI-compatible talent and the quest to develop the skills required will only intensify,” said Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director of Global Indices at INSEAD, and co-editor of the report.
“As talent becomes increasingly fluid and mobile, some early AI adopters could leverage this to become more talent competitive, however there are also signs that the ubiquity of AI is amplifying current imbalances and inequalities.”
Top 10 countries in the 2020 Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI):
1) Switzerland
2) United States
3) Singapore
4) Sweden
5) Denmark
6) Netherlands
7) Finland
8) Luxembourg
9) Norway
10) Australia
