Countries with skilled workforce, India fares badly

Indicating acute shortage of skilled workforce, India has been ranked 78th globally in terms of talent competitiveness of its human capital, while Switzerland has topped the charts. 

In the list of 93 countries -- compiled by INSEAD business school in partnership with Adecco and Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore (HCLI) -- Switzerland is followed by Singapore, Luxembourg, Denmark, United States and Canada in the top five. 

Sweden and the UK are ranked 6th and 7th respectively, with Denmark (8th), Australia (9th) and Ireland (10th) making it to the top-10. 

The annual Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), that measures a nation's competitiveness based on the quality of talent it can produce, attract and retain said that "despite being the largest regional economy, India (78th) ranks fourth amongst its peers, and also happens to be the lowest-ranked BRICS economy". 

"With its population of over 1.25 billion, 50 per cent of which is below 25 years of age, the country has a huge latent pool of talent, for which issues relating to competitiveness will only grow increasingly more important over the coming years," the report said. 

The rankings were dominated by European countries, with only six non European countries in the top 20: Singapore (2), the United States (4), Canada (5), Australia (9), New-Zealand (16) and Japan (20). 

The twenty top-scoring countries in the GTCI 2014 are all high-income countries.

"This is hardly surprising, since rich countries tend to have better universities and a greater ability to attract foreign talents through higher quality of life and remuneration, making them more talent competitive," the report said. 

The study, which focuses on the topic of 'growing talent for today and tomorrow' highlighted the importance of 'employable skills' and vocational education amid changing labour markets and rising unemployment. 

It further noted that the employment impact of ICT is particularly acute in emerging markets where ICT-related positions have strong indirect and spillover effects. 

In India four indirect employment opportunities were created by every new job in the ICT-enabled business processing industry, it said. 

"Perhaps one of the most interesting findings this year is the renewed importance of vocational education. It's not just higher education that is important today - vocational learning needs to be integrated into secondary education," Paul Evans, The Shell Chaired Professor of Human Resources and Organisational Development, Emeritus, at INSEAD, and co-editor of the report said.