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How Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand rank in talent competitiveness

How Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand rank in talent competitiveness

 

Singapore has taken the third place in the recent Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2020, topping the list in Southeast Asia and APAC for the seventh consecutive year.

The city-state scored 78.48% for overall talent competitiveness, coming in first worldwide in the pillars of Enable (91.17%), Attract (88.61%), and Global Knowledge Skills (71.19%).

At the same time, Malaysia rose up two spots from 28th to 26th globally, while Thailand dropped one spot to 67th, and Indonesia moved up two spots from 67th place to 65th place.

Overall, the top 10 most talent-competitive nations in Southeast Asia and APAC are:

#1 Singapore
#2 Australia
#3 New Zealand
#4 Japan
#5 Malaysia
#6 South Korea
#7 Brunei Darussalam
#8 China
#9 Philippines
#10 Indonesia

Full list of scoring in APAC region:


The top of the GTCI rankings is still dominated by Europe, with only seven non-European countries in the top 20: the United States (2nd), Singapore (3rd), Australia (10th), Canada (13th), New Zealand (16th), Japan (19th), and Israel (20th).

Country profile: Singapore

Singapore performs well in all the sub-pillars related to the three pillars, ranking 1st with respect to Regulatory Landscape, Business and Labour Landscape, External Openness, and High-Level Skills; 2nd when it comes to Talent Impact; 4th in Market Landscape; and 7th in Internal Openness. Singapore has also high scores in the pillars related to growing (8th) talent — boosted by strong opportunities for Lifelong Learning (3rd) — and to its pool of Vocational and Technical Skills (5th).

However, the city-state’s performance in the Retain (24th) pillar continues to be underwhelming, with scope for improvement in both sub-pillars (Sustainability, 24th, and Lifestyle, 28th).

SG-GTCI-indicators-2020

Country profile: Malaysia

Malaysia is the only non–high-income country to make it into the top quartile of the GTCI 2020. Not only that: It is a very consistent performer that finds itself in the top quartile in all pillars apart from Retain (where it is just outside, at rank 34th). Unsurprisingly, Malaysia dominates other upper-middle-income countries, leading in four pillars (Enable, Attract, Retain, and Vocational and Technical Skills) and in the top three in the other two pillars.

Dimensions with scope for improvement include Lifestyle (53rd) and Internal Openness (52nd), where the latter would benefit from higher tolerance and greater opportunities for minorities and immigrants.

Country profile: Thailand

Thailand scored a total of 41.3% overall, scoring the most in the pillar of Enable, followed by Attract (50.61%). However, when it came to Global Knowledge Skills, the country scored 28.16, the lowest out of the six key pillars.

In terms of sub-pillars, Thailand ranked 57th globally for its Sustainability in retaining talent, and 54th for Social Protection; and when it comes to Access to Growth Opportunities, the country falls behind in personal rights (rank 115).

Country profile: Indonesia

Indonesia does not rank in the top quartile with respect to any of its pillars. However, at the sub-pillar level, it does so when it comes to Access to Growth Opportunities (26th) and Employability (30th), which boost the scores of, respectively, the pillars Grow (48th) and Vocational and Technical Skills (55th).

By contrast, the sub-pillars High-Level Skills (82nd) and Talent Impact (91st) — which make up the pillar Global Knowledge Skills (84th) — are among the dimensions where Indonesia lags behind.


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Graphs / GTCI Report

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