PH 60th out of 64 in latest World Talent Ranking

The Philippines dropped six spots in this year’s World Talent Ranking (WTR) list of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), to rank 60th out of 64 countries in terms of the global talent competitiveness landscape.

In a statement released Thursday, IMD cited weaknesses such as the total public expenditure on education per student, where the Philippines ranked 63rd, noting that the country spent $367 per student.

The IMD ranked the country 58th in terms of total public expenditure on education, as it noted that the country spent 3.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on the sector.

Also cited as a weakness was the pupil-to-teacher ratio, with the country ranking 59th for primary education with 25.19 pupils to a teacher, and 60th for secondary education with 24.64 students to a teacher.

“Adapting education systems to the needs of economic systems remains one of the big challenges of talent competitiveness,” IMD’s World Competitiveness Center (WCC) director Arturo Bris said.

“The ‘winners’ in our rankings are also the countries that emphasize professional training and apprenticeships over general academic subjects. We do not recommend one versus the other, but the economic trade-offs of either choice are relevant,” he added.

GMA News Online has reached out to the Department of Labor and Employment for comment on the matter, but it has yet to reply as of posting time.

Meanwhile, the country’s overall strengths were the cost of living index where the country ranked 25th, collected personal income tax ranked 17th, labor force growth ranked ninth, skilled labor ranked third, and language skills ranked 25th.

This year’s list was topped by Switzerland, followed by Luxembourg, Iceland, Belgium, and Netherlands.

They were followed by Finland, Denmark, Singapore, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Canada, Ireland, and the United States which completed the top 15.

The 2023 took into consideration 31 criteria from 64 economies, including both hard data and survey responses from executives. The criteria were organized into three factors — investment and development, appeal, and readiness. —VAL, GMA Integrated News