KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — Malaysia fell sharply in an international ranking of countries’ competitiveness in terms of talents, allowing Singapore to overtake it as the best-placed in the region, according to the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).
Malaysia was fifth in the 2014 edition of the World Talent Report and is now 15th, while Singapore is now 10th, making it the only Asian nation in the top 10, the island republic’s media outlets reported.
“Malaysia has clearly lost some of that agility, and its fall has actually been quite sudden and significant,” IMD World Competitiveness Center director Professor Arturo Bris was quoted as saying by Channel News Asia.
“Needless to say, this is a trend it would do well to reverse.”
Bris said that “agility” was key to performing well in the rankings, as it indicates the ability to adapt and shape policies that preserve their talent pipeline.
The IMD’s World Talent Report 2015 released yesterday noted that Malaysia had climbed steadily in rankings from 2005 to 2014, but went on a decline in “almost all talent indicators” in the last year of the study that was conducted.
The report surveyed 61 countries for their ability to develop, attract and keep talent, and based the rankings on three indicators: investment and development; appeal; and readiness.
The investment and development indicator includes public spending on education, pupil-teacher ratio, female workforce and health infrastructure, while a country’s appeal is based on factors such as brain drain, quality of life, pay, income tax, security and cost of living, Singapore’s Business Times reported separately.
To determine a country’s readiness, IMD scrutinised the education system, science in school, educational assessment, language and financial skills, and labour force growth, among other things.
At the 10th spot in overall rankings globally, Singapore is ranked highest in terms of readiness at second spot, while it places 18th spot and 29th spot for the appeal and investment and development category globally.
Despite its overall placing, however, Malaysia was rated above Singapore in terms of investment and development at 13th spot, while placing 16th and 19th for readiness and appeal respectively.
Switzerland, which took the first spot in global rankings this year, placed first in terms of readiness and appeal, and second spot in investment and development.
The other countries in the top five after Switzerland are Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway and the Netherlands.
Other Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Thailand were ranked at 12th spot, 23rd place, 26th place, 31st spot and 34th spot respectively, BT reported.
