Taiwan ranked 16th in this year’s global talent ranking by the International Institute for Management Development, climbing four spots from last year on the back of better employment training and initatives to attract foreign professionals, the Switzerland-based group said yesterday.
The survey compared the performance of 64 economies worldwide with regard to talent investment and development, appeal and readiness, the institute said.
Switzerland topped the list for the fifth straight year.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, Reuters
The survey showed that employees are more motivated in more competitive economies, the institute said, attributing the trend in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sweden ranked second, followed by Luxembourg, Norway and Denmark.
The National Development Council, which provided the data for Taiwan, said that the nation improved its ranking on the back of higher scores in the talent investment and development gauges, as it improved its ability to attract and retain talent.
Over the past two years, foreign professionals and overseas Taiwanese talent have increasingly opted for Taiwan, where COVID-19 had limited effect on daily lives, foreign trade groups said.
However, this advantage might abate if Taiwan keeps its tight COVID-19 curbs in place while most of the world loosens restrictions, the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan said, adding that strict border controls and quarantine requirements pose challenges for internationally operating firms.
Taiwan’s ability to connect with the world lifts its global competitiveness and presence, despite its COVID-19 strategy risking to isolate the country, the trade group said.
Regionally, Taiwan ranked third, behind 11th-ranked Hong Kong and 12th-ranked Singapore, the institute said.
South Korea ranked 34th, and China ranked 39th, it said.
Taiwan’s score was boosted by substantial improvements in its apprenticeship system and valuation of employee training, the institute said, adding that the nation ranked seventh and fifth on the respective sub-indices.
The council said that the government has tried hard to build bridges between educational institutions and the private sector.
However, Taiwan has a lot of room for improvement in public education spending, ranking 50th in the survey and losing five spots since last year, the council said.
The government has earmarked NT$15 billion (US$541.32 million) for a special program to upgrade digital infrastructure at schools and is planning to spend another NT$20 billion on Internet applications at elementary and junior high schools, the council said.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary