Here's why Singapore can't be the best country in attracting talent

Switzerland continues to be the talent hotspot in the world.

Singapore ranked second in INSEAD’s Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), making it the best country in Asia for talents for the fifth year. It scored 78.42 out of 100, whilst Switzerland – the top in the world – got 78.42. The lion city beat the United States, which scored 75.34.

According to INSEAD, Singapore continued to perform poorly in terms of retaining talent even if it ranked 25^th globally.

INSEAD also revealed that Singapore has struggled in retaining talent because it has low scores in terms of social protection (52.29) and its pension system (61.22). It also performed badly in terms of physician density (30.29).

Other points to improve on include access to growth opportunities and innovation output.

Meanwhile, Singapore is the best in the world in terms of enabling (covers regulatory, markets, labour, and management landscape), attracting (covers openness and diversity), and enhancing the global knowledge skills of talents. This means it’s good in attracting talent from abroad.

The report also mentioned that Singapore ranked high in terms of gender diversity thanks to “deep political commitment,” along with Norway and the United Arab Emirates. This openness “shows the link between openness, talent competitiveness, and sustainable prosperity,” the report said.

Only tolerance of immigrants shows a relatively poorer performance, INSEAD noted. “Singapore had a multiracial and multicultural society long before its independence in 1965, with ethnic Chinese, Indians, and indigenous Malays making up the majority of the population,” it added.

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