Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Top ASEAN Countries In Global Talent Index

Singapore is topping the 2019 Global Talent Competitiveness Index in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as in Asia-Pacific for the sixth straight year, coming in second in the global rankings behind Switzerland and ahead of the US.

Released on January 21 in Davos, Switzerland ahead of the World Economic Forum, the yearly index measures how 125 countries are able to attract, nurture and retain talented people. It was compiled by French business school Insead in partnership with Adecco Group and Tata Communications.

Within ASEAN, Malaysia and Brunei came second and third on the list, with likewise decent global ranks of 27 and 36, respectively. No other ASEAN countries made it among the top 50, though. Cambodia showed the lowest rank in the region, while Myanmar was not screened.

Country                ASEAN rank        Global rank

Singapore             1                              2
Malaysia               2                              27
Brunei                   3                              36
Philippines           4                              58
Thailand               5                              66
Indonesia              6                              67
Laos                      7                              91
Vietnam                8                              92
Cambodia             9                              107
Myanmar              n/a                           n/a

The report measures levels of global talent competitiveness by looking at 68 macroeconomic and country-level variables, including education, training, global knowledge skills, creativity and innovation output, as well as labour market policies, IT infrastructure, talent retention, social and lifestyle factors and gender aspects, among others.

The index showed that Singapore topped all countries in its ability to enable and attract talent and in global knowledge skills in professional, managerial or leadership roles that require creativity and problem solving. But it did worse than other countries in talent retention, and has room to improve sustainability and lifestyle factors for talented workers.

The top three on the global list are followed by Scandinavian countries, Norway (4th), Denmark (5th), Finland (6th) and Sweden (7th). Yemen finished at the bottom of this year’s index at 125th, just below Congo (124th) and Burundi (123rd).

In Asia, Japan fell to 22nd from 20th last year, while the United Arab Emirates, ranked 19th, is the only other Asian country in the top 20 this year. New Zealand and Australia, which were second and third in Asia-Pacific, were listed 11th and 12th in the world ranking.

Source: investvine.com