Thailand ranks 73th in 2017 Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI)

INSEAD, The Business School for the World, released the fourth edition of Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI). Produced in partnership with The Adecco Group and the Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore (HCLI), the GTCI is an annual benchmarking report that measures the ability of countries to compete for talent.

Switzerland and Singapore occupy the top spots in GTCI 2017, with four Nordic countries in the top 10 (Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway). The United Kingdom and the United States rank third and fourth respectively.  As compared to other countries in the Eastern, Southeastern Asia and Oceania region, Thailand’s performance is on average, at 73^rd.  Malaysia and Philippines are 2 countries that are doing better than Thailand (ranked 28^th and 52^nd respectively).  Meanwhile, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia lag far behind; they ranked 86^th, 90^th and 108^th respectively.

Singapore (2^nd in the world, 1^st in the region) has achieved, for the fourth year, a very high standard both in the world and in the region, followed by Australia (6^th) and New Zealand (14^th). This region shows a wide variety in terms of performance.  Japan (22^nd) has a solid overall rating, although it dipped slightly with respect to last year’s edition (19^th position). One of its main challenges is the Attract pillar (51^st); Japan is far behind the top three countries of this region, and even middle-income countries such as Malaysia (28^th) attract more foreign talent.  Although the Republic of Korea (South Korea, 29^th) makes it into the top quartile of this year’s rankings, it is the lowest-ranking of a high-income country in the region. Despite being the top country in dimensions such as Tertiary enrolment (2^nd) and the Market Landscape (1^st) - with world-class R&D investments - the country has major room for improvement in the Attract pillar (70^th).

Thailand's ranking (73^rd), unfortunately, has plunged again for the 2^nd consecutive year, from 69^th in the last edition.  Therefore, Thailand needs to catch up across the different pillars.  However, Thailand does boast a relatively good performance in the Grow pillar (43^rd) - particularly in the Lifelong Learning sub-pillar (21^st). Thailand continues to do a better job of supporting research and development of Thailand (64^th), including increasing the number of researchers (59^th) and improving the quality of scientific institutions (51^st).  These 3 aforementioned sub-pillars have ascended from last year report.  For Retaining talents, Thailand is doing better in the Sustainability sub-pillar (rising to 67^th from 79^th), of which the Pension system and Taxation ranked slightly better than last edition. Reading, maths and science skills of workers Thailand also rose slightly to 44^th from 45^th.  Ability of Thais to move within a country or Internal Openness and Use of virtual social networks are also the areas that Thailand is doing better in attracting and growing the workforce.  This implies that both government and business sectors have cooperatively increased the infrastructures, connectivity and networks and policies that attract labour market to ensure a smooth individual’s mobility.  The Regulatory landscape adjusted from 80^th to 72^nd this year as well as the Government effectiveness (50^th) and Political stability (102^nd) that have been improved to provide country’s enablement.  Thailand has enhancing investment Attraction as shown specifically in slightly open to foreign ownership (or Prevalence of foreign ownership), ranked 52^nd.

Based on an assessment of tal­ent readiness for technology, from a regional perspective, Singapore is Asia’s clear leader, while Malaysia demonstrates stronger talent readi­ness for technology than the Republic of Korea (South Korea), though the technological infrastructure of the latter is superior; China is in a reasonably robust position on talent readiness for technology, closely followed by Vietnam.

Vietnam (86^th), however, fell 4 ranks from last edition, yet the country’s Global Knowledge (GK) capabilities has reached an impressive level, ranked 56^th, with talent impact sub-pillar at 23^rd ranking, better than Mongolia, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.  Even though the Grow pillar is only at 88^th but Vietnam’s skills of Reading, maths, science, scoring high at the 10^th this year, higher than Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The GTCI measures how countries grow, attract and retain talent, providing a resource for decision makers to develop strategies for boosting their talent competitiveness. The data and country coverage of the index have continued to broaden, allowing this report to cover 118 coun­tries (as opposed to 109 last year).  The theme of this fourth edition of the GTCI is Talent and Technology: Shaping the Future of Work. The 2017 report explores the effects of technological change on talent competitiveness, arguing that while jobs at all levels continue to be replaced by machines, technology is also creating new opportunities. However, people and organizations will need to adapt to a working environment in which technology know-how, people skills, flexibility and collaboration are key to success. Also horizontal networks are replacing hierarchies as the new leadership norm. Governments, business players and educational institutions need to work together to build / reform educational systems and labour market policies that are fit for these purposes.