Singapore ranks among top talent-competitive countries & regions in 2024

Asia Pacific markets in the top 30 include Hong Kong, Australia, Taiwan, and Korea.

Singapore has landed in second place in the ⁠IMD World Talent Ranking (WTR) 2024, moving up from eighth place in 2023; and from 18^th place recorded over the past decade.

Released on 19 September 2024, the 11^th edition of the rankings measured 67 countries and territories and combined WTR survey data from the IMD World Competitiveness Center (WCC) with external sources, setting both in the context of findings from the International Labour Organisation (ILO). 

Three factors were taken into consideration: Investment & development, Appeal, and Readiness.

Singapore’s steady rise is attributed to its "robust performance" in the Readiness factor, particularly with regards to its talent pool, placing it between Switzerland and Luxembourg in the rankings.

Overall, Switzerland continues to lead the rankings due to its strong strategies in investment & development, while Luxembourg benefits from similar strengths. For the first time, Ghana, Nigeria, and Puerto Rico were included in the ranking.

Zooming into Asia Pacific markets, selected markets that made the top 30 were:

• Hong Kong: #9
• Australia: #14
• Taiwan: #18
• Korea: #26

The full list of top 30 markets are:

Finally, here's a look at Asia Pacific markets ranked in the overall list:

• Malaysia: #33
• China: #38
• New Zealand: #39
• Indonesia: #46
• India: #58 
• Philippines: #63

The report, titled The socio-economic implications of AI in the workplace, highlights how early AI adoption in higher-income economies such as Singapore, Japan, and the UK is creating workforce disruptions. 

While these economies stand to benefit from AI in the long run, they also face rising discrimination, which could impact their ability to attract and retain highly skilled overseas talent.

In addition to AI’s impact, the report also covered the following: 

1. how much AI is seen to enhance tasks or provoke quiet quitting in different economies, 
2. the likelihood of men versus women's employment being affected by automation, and
3. how talent competitiveness in the AI era requires a swift reassessment of educational systems and corporate training programmes to ensure workers possess the skills needed.

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READ MORE: How Asian cities rank on the Smart City Index 2024