Spain does not lose its ability to attract talent, but it does not improve it either. For the fourth consecutive year, is located in the 32nd position of World Talent Ranking of the IMD, the report that measures the ability to attract, develop and retain talent from 63 economies, including Spain.
The Swiss business school is based on three pillars for its analysis: investment and development, attractiveness and preparation. In this sense, this ninth edition of the classification concludes that Spain gains positions in the first section, but falls slightly in the other two. “Despite the drop in certain indicators, there is a general trend towards less competitiveness of talent in countries driven by the global economic crisis and the inability of countries to attract and retain talent due to living conditions. In this sense, Spain is doing less badly than the rest of the countries”, says the director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center and person in charge of the report, Arturo Bris.
Among the main strengths of the Spanish economy, report highlights female workforce, which accounts for 47.20% of the total value of the country’s labor force, as well as its health infrastructure, which it scores with 8.05 out of 10 in terms of its ability to meet the needs of society. Also values the high quality of life in Spain very positively (with 8.37 out of 10) or the growth of the labor force, which is well above the average (in 18th position out of 63).
However, the IMD considers that Spain’s main weaknesses when it comes to attracting talent are the low priority that companies give to employee training, an aspect that achieves a score of 5.19 out of 10, or the low motivation of the workers, which achieves a scratched pass with a 5.08. Furthermore, the Spanish economy fails in aspects such as the international experience of senior managers (4.95) and, above all and perhaps connected to the latter, in relation to language skills that meet the needs of companies, where Spain is at the bottom of the list (in 53rd position out of 63).
Ups and downs
Overall, the study suggests that global economies are reassessing the balance between developing local talent and international talent in a bid to offset losses of skilled labor as a result of travel restrictions and lockdowns during the pandemic. . Thus, their data show that the patterns before and after the health crisis with respect to brain drain have not been so detrimental to the competitiveness of talent in those countries that have strengthened their attractiveness.
That is the case of Saudi Arabiawhich rises eight places from 2021, to the 30th position, becoming the economy that has most improved its attractiveness for talent between 2019 and 2022. It is due, according to the researchers, to a decrease in the cost of living, a consequent increase in quality of life scores and ambitious investment plans.
The Czech Republic, Croatia, the Slovak Republic or Peru, among others, also improve. The United States, on the other hand, drops two positions, up to 16th place, along with other countries that are also less attractive, such as Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, New Zealand or Venezuela. “The competitiveness of talent in the post-Covid period depends, to a large extent, on the level of motivation of the workforce, which, in turn, depends on remuneration, but also on the quality of life and the organizational leadership of the economy”, says Christos Cabolis, chief economist at IMD’s Center for Global Competitiveness.
Switzerland repeats in first position, followed by Sweden, which also remains the same. What lifts it to the top, according to the report, is the effective implementation of apprenticeships, attracting highly qualified foreign staff, as well as the availability of financial skills and managers with international experience. It ranks second in the prioritization of employee training by the private sector, the level of workforce motivation, and the availability of language skills. However, the business school warns that there is room for improvement in the quality of education, the female workforce or the number of science graduates.
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