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IMD ranks Singapore top in attracting foreign talent |
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Country also records best manufacturing labour cost improvement
Business executives from around the world have given Singapore top marks for its conducive business environment. In the latest study of 29 economies with a population of less than 20 million, Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD) ranked Singapore top for attracting highly skilled foreign talent.
In the study, Singapore also recorded an improvement of nearly 10 per cent in its manufacturing labour cost, the best cost improvement among suchsmall economies. The findings were based on data collected last year, before Sars and the war in Iraq made their impact on the economy.
Over 4,000 top global and local business executives were included in the survey by IMD, which sought to find out, among other things, whether highly skilled foreigners were attracted to the business environment of the 29 economies. Singapore topped the list with a score of 8.25, followed by Luxembourg, Switzerland, Ireland and Hong Kong.
The latest accolade adds to the attractiveness of Singapore, which was ranked second in overall competitiveness among small economies in IMD's annual competitiveness study, released by IMD earlier.
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Professor Stephane Garelli, Director of the annual competitiveness study, said: "We think that the attractiveness of a country should not only be directed to foreign direct investments but also to foreign talents."
"This is a very good competitiveness asset for Singapore as it moves up to become a more sophisticated type of economy than many others in the region," he added.
He observed that with economic development and better education, the younger generation tended to leave the country to gain experience abroad. This was fine as long as they returned with additional skills and experience. But, the trend has to be compensated by foreign skills. "The attractiveness of Singapore in this respect is a key asset for the future," he added.
In terms of the manufacturing sector's unit labour cost (ULC), Singapore's sharp improvement of 9.6 per cent last year placed it ahead of the other countries. Hong Kong showed a 1.5 per cent improvement, and Chile did better by 1.2 per cent, but the other 26 small economies in the study saw their ULC deteriorate. |
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