Cambodia moved up a notch this year as a place for attracting and growing talent, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2019 (GTCI) report released this week. It ranked the Kingdom 107 out of 125 countries.
Last year, GTCI ranked Cambodia 108th out of 119 countries on the global talent attraction index. This year GTCI report, compiled by international business school Insead with the Adecco Group and Tata Communications, ranked 125 economies across the world in terms of their ability to attract, develop and increase talents.
Adecco Group CEO Alain Dehaze said as the world of work changes rapidly, it is more necessary to have information about talent competitiveness available to benchmark how a country is competing against its peers, as well as to understand the trends affecting talent flows and competitiveness to improve national performance.
“One of the key economic challenges of our age will be how, as technology transforms the way we work and live, we can strive to improve talent competitiveness and therefore prosperity across the world,” Dehaze said.
However, Cambodia ranks lower than all Southeast Asian nations.
Singapore stands at the top in the region, ranked 2nd among 125. Malaysia came in 27th, Brunei Darussalam 36th, the Philippines 58th, Thailand 66th, Indonesia 67th, Laos 91st and Vietnam 92nd. Myanmar was not included in the study.
The index measures an overall ranking based on six key categories – Enable, Attract, Grow, Retain, Vocational and Technical Skills and Global Knowledge Skills.
Emerging Markets Consulting senior consultant Ngeth Chou said the evaluation of Cambodian talent competitiveness should not heavily impact foreign investors’ view of Cambodia as the Kingdom currently does not have a place for advanced technology firms.
“The majority of foreign investors to Cambodia prioritise a workforce with sufficient skill to support their growth and don’t so much target highly talented workforces."
“A developing country like Cambodia does not yet have a place for advanced technology companies, so the need for highly talented workforces is not large yet,” he said.
