Talent competitiveness measures how competitive a country is based on the quality of talent within its borders.
The report, “Global and Mobile: Talent Reshapes the World Economy” (GTCI) was launched by INSEAD.
According to the GTCI, which is based on a research partnership with the Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore (HCLI) and Adecco, Switzerland leads the world in talent competitiveness, followed by Singapore and then Denmark.
The authors say GTCI is designed as a neutral, worldwide and respected index that would enable policy makers and private players to assess how effective their talent-related policies and practices have been. It should also help them identify which areas to prioritize for action.
The GTCI includes details on talent competitiveness across 103 nations, covering 86.3% of the world’s population and 96.7% of its GDP.
Ilian Mihov, Dean of INSEAD, said:
“There is a widespread mismatch between what companies need in terms of skills and what local labor markets can offer. Educational institutions are under pressure to supply the employable skills that the new global knowledge economy demands. Obviously, these issues require a collaborative effort among government, business, organized labor and global business schools such as INSEAD.
While the approach may not be uniform across various economic environments, the provision of fact-based quantitative indicators such as the GTCI can help identify options and facilitate action.”
GTCI measures how nations grow, attract and retain talent
The GTCI framework takes into account a country’s score according to six pillars:
- Attract
- Enablers
- Grow
- Labor
- Retain
- Vocational Skills (LV) and Global Knowledge Skills (GK)
The pillars are populated by 48 variables. With this wide combination of data, the index can measure how a nation grows, attracts and retains talent, “going from government policy and quality of education to sustainability or lifestyle for example.”
Executive Director for Global Indices at INSEAD and report co-author, Bruno Lanvin emphasized:
“Talent attractiveness is becoming the true currency by which countries, regions and cities compete with each other. Youth unemployment has become a core issue in all types of countries, rich or poor, industrialized or emerging: over 50% of people younger than 25 are unemployed in Southern Europe, while more than 50% of the population of many African countries is less than 18 years of age.
The mere confrontation of these two figures gives an idea of the tensions, flows, and challenges that lie ahead.”
Talent competitiveness rankings dominated by Europe
Only two non-European countries – the United States and Singapore – appear in the top ten for talent competitiveness in 2013.
Within Europe itself, the most talent-competitive nations are in the north of the continent. Those in the top twenty, all share a long standing commitment to quality education (Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and the UK), a history of immigration (Australia and the US), and a “clear strategy to grow and attract the best and brightest (Singapore)”.