Portugal is the 23rd best country to attract and retain talent

  • ECO News
  • 18 November 2019

Portugal falls six places in the world ranking of talent of IMD 2019, ranking 23rd in areas such as investment and development, attractiveness and preparation.

Portugal is the 23rd best country to attract and retain talent, according to the International Institute for Management Development’s (IMD) world talent ranking, which assessed areas such as investment and development, attractiveness and preparation of people in 63 world economies.

The sixth edition of the IMD World Talent Ranking, which assesses the countries’ performance in the categories of investment and development, attractiveness and preparation, placed Portugal in 23rd place, thus falling six positions compared to the previous year.

Switzerland came in 1st place, with the title of the largest talent centre in the world, Denmark in 2nd – being the best world economy for investment and development – and Sweden in 3rd. The top 10 is completed by Austria, Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland, Finland, the Netherlands and Singapore.

The Portuguese obtained a lower score in the three categories evaluated, occupying the 13th position in investment and development, the 27th in preparation and the 32nd in attractiveness.

With lower performance in the areas of employees’ vocational training (58th place in the ranking), international experience of senior management (54th), workforce growth (50th), justice (50th), priority given to attracting and retaining talent within companies (48th), worker motivation (47th), management training (45th) and implementation of internships (41st). As a result, Portugal ranked 23rd on the list.

The ranking also reveals factors such as the percentage of women in the workforce, with Portugal in fourth place in the ranking, government expenditure per secondary school student – who occupies fifth place – language skills (7th), lower exposure to particle pollution (9th), the teacher-student ratio in secondary education (11th), the number of science graduates (11th) and the availability of skilled workers (13th).

The top of the ranking is dominated by small and medium-sized European countries. In common, these economies have strong levels of investment in education and high quality of life. Except for Estonia and Lithuania, Eastern European economies appear in the second half of the ranking.

“Most of the major economies leverage long-term talent development through investment and development. This attention goes beyond academic aspects, encompassing an effective implementation of internship programmes and vocational training for workers. This approach ensures a consistent alignment between the demand and supply of talent,” says Professor Arturo Bris, director of the IMD’s World Competitiveness Centre, in a statement.

Singapore was the only non-European country in the top 10, with the highest score for the level of workforce preparation. Outside the top 10, the biggest jumps were in Taiwan (20th), Lithuania (28th), the Philippines (49th) and Colombia (54th).