Switzerland has once again captured the top spot in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2019, standing first in lifelong learning, sustainability and employability besides being the global leader in talent retention with excellent access to entrepreneurial talent.
Singapore, one of the two-non-European countries in the top 10, is second in the index, being a talent hub and scoring high on skills. The United States comes third, scoring well on growth. Norway is 4th, being the global leader in harnessing talent but falling behind in openness.
Fifth-placed Denmark, Finland (6) and Sweden (7) have been judged as capable of retaining talent and being great places to live.
The Netherlands (8) scores in education, lifelong learning and growth opportunities, but fails to attract talent unlike the United Kingdom (9) that continues to draw international talent. Luxembourg (10) relies on its outstanding international reputation in the area of finance and excels in retaining local talent.
Incidentally, the talent champions are all high-income countries with the average scores considerably higher than that of the other income groups.
Launched in 2013, the GTCI is an annual index that combines the academic research and expertise of INSEAD and created in partnership with the Adecco Group, a well-known name in workforce solutions and Tata Communications.
While Felipe Monteiro, an Affiliate Professor of Strategy at INSEAD, is the Academic Director of GTCI, Bruno Lanvin is the Executive Director of Global Indices at the B-school.
The Index aims to give governments and businesses the distilled data from 125 countries needed to inform their decisions about talent policies and strategies. The report itself has details about methodology as well as country profiles.
The top 10 in the index are the same as in the previous year. Having invested in creating and encouraging entrepreneurial talent, these nations are open economies with a strong emphasis on education. Innovation and talent impact are the areas where they perform particularly well.
The only upper-middle-income country in the top quarter of the index is Malaysia (27). The two other top countries in this group are Costa Rica (34) and Azerbaijan (43). China (45), in the same group, ranks well in growth, based on excellent reading, maths and science students and the rise of its universities in international rankings.
The GTCI report noted changes based on income. The top three of both the lower-middle-income and low-income countries had performed well in terms of enabling talent but displayed weakness in the skills categories.
The top ones among the lower-middle-income countries are the Philippines (58), Ukraine (63) and Indonesia (67). Among the top of the low-income countries, Rwanda (63) is an example of a country that performs well in enabling and attracting talent, especially in gender equality, but with a weak performance in skills. Tajikistan (81), a new entrant in the GTCI index, has higher technical skills, unlike other low-income countries.
The top 10 in the index are the same as in the previous year. Having invested in creating and encouraging entrepreneurial talent, these nations are open economies with a strong emphasis on education. Innovation and talent impact are the areas where they perform particularly well.
Meanwhile, a time series analysis based on six years of GTCI data show two opposing trends: Talent competitiveness is strengthening in countries where it is already comparatively high and weakening in those where it is relatively low.
Comparing the first three years of data with the second three years for a global snapshot of talent competitiveness revealed that movement in the rankings was more likely at lower positions (not high-income countries) than at higher ones.
This year’s Global Talent Competitiveness Index covered 93% of the world population, focussing on entrepreneurial talent and global competitiveness.
Meanwhile, in the Global City Talent Competitiveness Index, Washington D.C. is ranked number one, followed by Copenhagen (2), Oslo (3), Vienna (4), Zurich (5), Boston (6), Helsinki (7), New York (8), Paris (9) and Seoul (10).
This year, the list has 114 cities, up from 90 last year. It also includes more cities from outside Europe – 63 from around the world. Four cities in the top 10, including the top-ranked, are non-European.