The Philippines improved its rankings for the World Talent Competitiveness Index compiled by the Institute for Management Development (IMD)—rising to 45th out of 63 countries this year, from 51st out of 61 in 2016. According to the report, this points to a jump equivalent of 10 spots.
The improvement is a good reason for some celebration, but the current ranking still puts us fourth among the five Asean members surveyed. It also does not indicate a significant break from the trends our rankings have exhibited since 2005, where we consistently placed in the bottom half of the survey.
For 2017 the Philippines rated very well in terms of work-force readiness (11th), which refers to the availability of skills and competencies in the talent pool. It also placed very highly in terms of labor-force growth (fourth), the availability of skilled workers (sixth) and language skills (13th).
We did not measure up very well for cost-of-living index (33rd), or the availability of a basket of certain goods and services, scoring 73.40 out of 100, where 100 refers to what is available in New York City. We were average in terms of attracting and retaining talent (24th), and the level of work-force motivation in companies (23rd).
The Philippines performed poorly in remuneration in service professions (56th), the protection of personal and property rights (49th), quality of life (47th) and the effect of brain drain on the economy (40th).
All these dampening factors are most likely explained by how poorly we invest in our human capital. We placed 60th in terms of total public expenditure on education, reaching only 2.7 percent of GDP. With 36 students for every primary-school teacher, and 27 for every high-school teacher, we ranked 62nd and 59th, respectively, for pupil-teacher ratio. These findings place the Philippines at the bottom (63rd) in terms of the sub-index score for “investment and development,” which measures the “resources committed to cultivate homegrown talent.”
The IMD’s World Talent Competitiveness Index 2017 is but another demonstration of how we fail to appreciate and, hence, squander the demographic sweet spot we are fortunate to be situated in. This report should make our leaders keenly aware of this once-in-a-millennium gift and spur them to increase investments in human capital—mainly for education, health, training and housing—so that the country can reap huge
demographic dividends.
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