Vietnam falls in ranking in Global Talent Competitiveness Index

Compared to the GTCI report of last year, Vietnam dropped seven spots, from 75 to 82. Last year Vietnam ranked 75th out of 93 countries.

Launched for the first time in 2013, the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) is an annual benchmarking report that measures the ability of countries to compete for talent. The report ranks over 100 countries according to their ability to grow, attract and retain talent.

The GTCI combines the academic research and expertise of INSEAD, the international business school, and Singapore's Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) with the business experience and perspective of Adecco, the world leader in Human Resources solutions.

Today, over 200 million people are unemployed and almost 1 in 2 jobs are at risk due to the increasing sophistication of automation.

At the same time, an ageing population presents additional challenges: by 2030, younger generations are predicted to halve and those over 65 will be the fastest-growing population group, which will result in a labor shortfall in countries like Germany, Brazil and China.

Vietnam's ranking in GTCI 2015-2016.

Talent – not trade, not capital – is the most powerful element to turn challenges into solutions. Developing the right people with the right skills and getting them in the right place at the right time has never been more urgent nor more complex.

Much more than an international league table of talent, the GTCI report provides a tool-kit for governments, businesses and non-profit organizations to improve their talent management capabilities.

GTCI 2015-16 focuses on 'Talent Attraction and International Mobility'. Citing the concrete example of talent champion countries, GTCI 2015-16 demonstrates that mobility is key to fostering networks, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and ultimately, developing talent. It also highlights the relevance of talent mobility as a core dimension of growth and development strategies of both governments and businesses.

Why is Vietnam’s position low?

The gap between Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand in the rankings this year is quite large.

Specifically, this year's report shows that Malaysia is ranked 30th, the Philippines 56th, Thailand 69th and Singapore 2nd. Within ASEAN, Vietnam is ranked above Cambodia which is 96th and Indonesia at 90th.

Vietnam was ranked higher for "Global Knowledge" (using high skills to support initiatives and engage in business) and lower for “Labor & Vocational" category as well as in attracting, developing and retaining talent.

Although Vietnam was seen as poor at developing talent through the formal education system, Vietnam achieved a high score in global knowledge (above Thailand).

According to the report, the biggest gap between Vietnam and leading countries is in "Labor and Vocational". Vietnam was viewed as not ranked highly at attracting and developing talent.

In addition, Vietnam’s “Sustainability and Life Style” was not ranked highly.

The report also shows that points for “Innovation” and “Entrepreneurship” of Vietnam was high. However, Vietnam faces the risk of losing existing talent and this can hinder the growth of the economy.

ASEAN Economic Community: competition for talent

This year, most countries in the Asia Pacific region demonstrated modest declines, with the exception of three countries with improved rankings: New Zealand (11), which significantly improved its performance, Japan (19), which showed a solid overall performance increase, and Malaysia (30) which moved up five spots. There are, however, marked declines in the performance of China (from 41 to 48), India (from 78 to 89) and The Republic of  Korea (RoK) (from 29 to 37).

The top three countries in Asia Pacific have all demonstrated openness in their economies to attracting talents: Singapore has close to 43% of its population born abroad; New Zealand and Australia approximately 17%.

Ilian Mihov, Dean of INSEAD, commented: “This year’s theme of international mobility and talent attraction is of high relevance to Asia Pacific. Asian countries are historically seen as talent exporters; however, this year’s report highlights the increasing trend of talent relocating to this part of the world, including a key finding that jobs are moving to where talent is, such as China, RoK, Philippines and Vietnam.”

He added: “The GTCI will be become increasingly relevant for key influencers in this region looking for quantitative instruments and recommendations to help them boost competitiveness.”

Singapore has shown exemplary performance, being consistently ranked top of this region; however, the report found that the city state has room for improvement in terms of tolerance to migrants, empowerment of employees, and increasing the pool of vocationally trained people.

Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director of Global Indices at INSEAD and co-editor of the report, commented on how the establishment of AEC, a major milestone in economic integration offering opportunities to more than 622 million people in this region, would impact talent competition here.

“Singapore’s attractiveness as a talent hub has in recent years faced strong competition from its neighbouring countries, and that is likely to intensify when talent is completely mobile in this region (ASEAN).”

He added: “The country, which has seen a 33% increase in the number of its citizens working and living abroad, signals that policymakers can increase efforts to attract them back, as this group of talent would offer a distinct and important combination of overseas work experience and strong local knowledge.”