The Philippines dropped six spots from 54th to 60th among 64 nations, which are still reeling from the long-lasting effects of COVID-19, in the latest global world talent ranking report.

Based on the 2023 World Talent Ranking (WTR) by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), which also considers the long-lasting effects of COVID-19, it examined how 64 nations ranked in terms of the global talent competitiveness landscape. 

The 2023 WTR studied 64 economies – including Kuwait for the first time – by quantifying 31 criteria that involve both hard data and survey responses from executives. Each criterion was then organized into three factors: Investment and Development, which considers the domestic resources committed to cultivating homegrown talent; Appeal, which evaluates the ability to attract and retain talent from both international and domestic markets; and Readiness, which quantifies the quality of the available skills and competencies in the talent pool.

Overall, Switzerland again topped the list, followed by Luxembourg, Iceland, Belgium, and Singapore. 

In the Asia Pacific region, the Philippines was ranked 13^th, with Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia taking the top three spots. 

Specifically for Philippines, the WTR highlighted the country’s strengths in skilled labor, labor force growth and cost of living index. 

But its weaknesses outweighed its strengths. These include low total public expenditure on education per student, pupil-teacher ratio (secondary education), and low inbound of student mobility.

Under investment and development criteria, the report showed the Philippines ranked 62^nd wherein total public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP is only at 3.1 percent, putting the country’s rank in this particular measure at 58^th. 

The report also highlighted that total public expenditure on education per student was only at $367, making the Philippines at 63^rd or second lowest among 64 countries. 

The pupil-teacher ratios for primary education and secondary education were also lower at 25.19 and 24.64, respectively. In this measure, the Philippines ranked 59^th for primary and 60^th for secondary education. 

On apprenticeship, the country lagged behind with a rank of 47^th while employee training was at higher of 37^th.    

The report also looked into the long-lasting effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the adoption of remote and hybrid working and changing rankings between certain regions. 

Under the second major factor – appeal,  the country’s talent ranking performed better. It ranked higher at 17^th in terms of collected personal income, and cost-of-living index at 25^th. 

It also ranked 32^nd in remuneration of management; 38^th in worker innovation; 44^th in statutory minimum wage; 46^th in foreign highly skilled personnel; 47^th in attracting and retaining talents; and 48^th in exposure to particle pollution. 

But the country ranked lower in other indicators such as justice (51st), brain drain (52nd), and quality of life (54th).

Under the readiness factor, the Philippines ranked high at 3^rd spot in terms of readily available skilled workers and 9^th in labor force growth; 25^th in language skills; and 28^th in competent senior managers.  

Other than that, the country scored settled in the middle or lower. In the criterion graduates in sciences (34^th); finance skills (35^th);  management education (36^th); 44^th in international experience; in primary and secondary education (48^th); and student mobility inbound (57^th ) or foreign tertiary-level students per 1,000 inhabitants; educational assessment also at 57^th based on PISA survey of 15-year olds. 

Overall, IMD said that the results of the 2023 WTR indicated that the long-lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are playing a determining role in the talent competitiveness landscape.

On the one hand, the widespread adoption of remote and hybrid work has implications for how career progression is perceived: 27 percent of the more than 4,000 executives surveyed for the WTR assert that remote work, whether full-time or part-time, is detrimental to career development in their company.

Notably, the economies in which remote work is considered less harmful for career development are, on average, also those that excel in the attraction and retention of highly skilled professionals as well as in the levels of female participation in the job market. 

“This year’s rankings also show that as economies become more service-oriented – a transformation process that has also reached China (41st) and India (56th) – the physical presence of employees in the country of their employers is no longer needed. All in all, we observe the emergence of a new type of employee that has been educated in one country, lives in another, and works for a company located in a third country,” explained Professor Arturo Bris, Director of IMD’s World Competitiveness Center (WCC), which produces the WTR.

Additionally, the study shows that most regions have not been able to return to pre-pandemic levels of talent competitiveness – a situation that has led to greater talent competitiveness parity between certain regions. For instance, he said, the average talent ranking of countries in Southern Asia and Eastern Europe got closer between 2019 and 2023 while increasing the disparities experienced by other regions like South America, which had already been lagging in comparison to other regions and has seen that gap increase.

“Adapting education systems to the needs of economic systems remains one of the big challenges of talent competitiveness. The ‘winners’ in our ranking 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,” said Bris.