The UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia lead the Middle East and Africa regions for talent, a new international study has found.
Talent remains a highly competitive resource in today’s global economy, according to the first edition of the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), which was published by INSEAD, based on research in partnership with the Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore (HCLI) and Adecco.
103 countries, representing 86.3 per cent of the world’s population and 96.7 per cent of the world’s GDP were analysed.
The UAE is ranked 19th globally and leads the oil-based economies of the Gulf. The UAE exhibits particular strength in retention (taxation, quality of life and services), which is ranked third globally (though there is a lack of data on its pension system).
"In the MENA region, the UAE is the only strong performer across all six pillars of the index; this explains why it ranks in the top twenty GTCI countries in the world," said Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director for Global Indices, INSEAD, and co-author of the report.
"With a strong business landscape and a clear strategy to become a ‘talent hub’ like Singapore, the UAE’s enablers is ranked 14th (government effectiveness and stability, innovation climate, connectivity and ease of doing business and labour market flexibility). The UAE’s labour and vocational skills and grow factors are moderate (23 and 21) but still in the upper quintiles", he added.
The GTCI, which measures a nation’s competitiveness based on the quality of talent it can produce, attract and retain, will help countries monitor their progress and compare their performance to that of other economies. This will allow governments and decision-makers to make any crucial changes needed to improve talent competitiveness.