PH drops near bottom of IMD's world talent ranking

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 22) — The Philippines ranked 60th out of 64 countries in an annual world talent ranking, falling six places from last year, a report by the Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Talent Ranking showed.

The IMD studied the 64 economies by quantifying 31 criteria that highlighted each countries' abilities in terms of investment and development, readiness, and appeal.

"...In a world in which the trade of physical assets is disrupted, talent mobility and the globalization of services are two ways in which economies remain interconnected. As you will see from this year's rankings, the countries that top the list are small, European economies with well-developed economic systems," Professor Arturo Bris, Director of IMD World Competitiveness Center, stated in the released 2023 report.

Based on the report, the Philippines' talent competitiveness continued to lag behind other Asia-Pacific countries. It ranked 13th out of 14 Asia-Pacific countries, better only than Mongolia. Singapore (8th overall) was the highest-ranking Asia-Pacific country, followed by Hong Kong (16th), Australia (18th), Taiwan (20th) and New Zealand (31st).

The country ranked 62nd in investment and development with overall top weaknesses in total public expenditure on education, public experience on education per student, pupil-teacher ratio in primary and secondary education.

For appeal, it ranked 55th, and 48th in quality of life, while the cost-of-living index of a basket of goods and services in the main city ranked 25th.

Meanwhile, for readiness, the country placed 51st. The overall top strengths are labor force growth, skilled labor, and language skills.

The IMD World Competitiveness Center has been