Taiwan Ranks 27th in Talent Among 60 Nations for 2014: IMD

Taiwan ranks globally 27th in talent among 60 countries, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2014 compiled by the IMD World Competitiveness Center of International Institute for Management Development (IMD), based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The IMD World Talent Ranking assesses ability of countries to develop, attract and retain talent to sustain talent pool available for enterprises operating in those economies. The ranking is based on three factors: investment & development, appeal, and readiness.

The investment and development factor takes into account  investment in and development of  homegrown talent. The appeal factor goes beyond the focus on  local labor force to incorporate into the analysis the ability of a country to tap into overseas talent pool. Specifically, it examines the ability of a country to attract highly-skilled foreign labor. The readiness factor looks at context of talent pool, to consider growth of labor force and quality of skills available, as well as experience and competencies of existing senior managers.

Taiwan ranks 27th in investment & development factor, 30th in appeal factor and 25th in readiness factor, all falling from those of  last year. Taiwan is 27th in overall talent, behind Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia, but ahead of South Korea, China and Japan.

Among the 60 countries ranked, Switzerland leads and is followed in sequence by Denmark, Germany, Finland and Malaysia.

Among the sub-factors, Taiwan  ranks 39th in female labor participation rate, 50th in brain drain, and 45th in appeal to foreign skilled people. H. K. Kao, vice chairperson of Taiwan's National Development Council, indicates that stagnant salaries being the main reason for the severe brain drain in Taiwan and lack of appeal to foreign skilled workers. In contrast, China's wages have doubled over the past decade. (JL)