Thailand ranked 61 in talent competitiveness index

"Thailand has good market conditions (enablers) and good performance in growing its own talent, although struggles in attracting talent (inter-regional and from abroad) and in converting existing talent into better performance in terms of employable skills (including global skills) and higher levels of labour productivity," said the research by INSEAD, Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore and Adecco Group.

“With Thai companies, particularly those in the area of technology, continuing to expand globally, the need for strong talent development in Thailand is more important than ever before. As a country we need to continually be looking at new ways of developing our talent base," said Tidarat Kanchanawat, country manager, Adecco Thailand.

Kwan Chee Wei, CEO of HCLI, added “In certain Asian countries, there is a need to see value and worth in both professional and technical vocations. Beyond this, traditional hierarchies and bureaucracy in many Asian corporates often hold back openness, transparency and empowerment – important levers in accelerating talent growth.”

The research finds that investments in ‘employable skills’ and vocational educationis key to attracting, retaining and developing talent. 

Globally, Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg lead the rankings.

As in 2013, GTCI rankings are dominated by European countries, with only six non-European countries in the top 20: Singapore (2), the United States (5), Canada (5), Australia (9), New-Zealand (16) and Japan (20).

“It’s really quite striking that among the top three countries – Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg – two are landlocked and one is an island," said Bruno Lanvin, executive director of Global Indices at INSEAD, and co-author of the report.

"Faced with specific geographical challenges and a quasi-absence of natural resources, these countries have had no choice but to be open economies, a critical ingredient to being talent competitive. The top countries in this year’s GTCI have played the game of globalisation, and have played it well.” 

Many of the other economies in the ‘top 20’ have strong immigration traditions, including the United States (4), Canada (5), Sweden (6), the United Kingdom (7), and Australia(9). These high-performing countries also have long prioritised education, as is the case for the other Scandinavian countries, all in the top 15: Denmark (8), Norway (11), and Finland (13).

Paul Evans, co-editor of the report, noted "Perhaps one of the most interesting findings this year is the renewed importance of vocational education. It’s not just higher education that is important today – vocational learning needs to be integrated into secondary education. In Switzerland, thinking about becoming employable starts off in schools at an early age. At 15, over 70 percent of Swiss school children go on to select what’s known as the apprenticeship track, combining practical work experience with traditional theoretical learning.” He added: “Within the current Swiss government, half of the ministers have come out of the vocational stream. For future talent competitiveness, countries have to take vocational education – that is, employability – much more seriously.”

A total of 93 countries, representing 83.8 per cent of the world’s population and 96.2 per cent of the world’s GDP in US dollar term), were analysed for the index, which aims to provide a practical and strategic tool for governments, businesses and not-for-profit organisations to inform policies in areas such as education, human resources and immigration. Itfound that a focus on ‘employable skills’ and continued investment in vocational education underpins success in developing, attracting and retaining top talent.

The twenty top-scoring countries in the GTCI 2014 are all high-income countries. Rich countries tend to have better universities and a greater ability to attract foreign talents through higher quality of life and remuneration, making them more talent competitive. However, beyond this ‘top-level’ correlation of talent competitiveness with wealth, the GTCI study reveals six key factors affecting talent competitiveness across countries of different GDP per capita and development levels: 

 

1. Openness is key to talent competitiveness: Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg all have a high degree of openness to trade, investment, immigration and new ideas, embracing globalisation while leveraging their human resources.

2. Fiscally stable countries need talent competitiveness for sustainable development: mineral- or oil-rich countries, or those with context-specific competitive advantage, should foster talent competitiveness to ensure sustainable prosperity.

3. Talent growth can be internal or external: some countries like the US successfully focus on developing talent within their own borders, while others such as China attract foreign talent or send their elites abroad for further education.

4. Countries must consider employability or risk high unemployment: ‘talent for growth’ means meeting the actual needs of a national economy. Switzerland, Singapore and the Nordic countries customise their education systems towards appropriate levels of ‘employable skills’.

5. Education systems need to reconsider traditional learning: talent development in the 21st century must go beyond traditional formal education and develop vocational skills.

6. Technology is changing the meaning of ‘employable skills’: technological changes will affect new segments of the labour market, impacting 250 million ‘knowledge workers’ globally