INSEAD published this week its “Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2022 – The Tectonics of Talent: Is the World Drifting Towards Increased Talent Inequalities?” report, highlighting that the global search for talent has accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In details, the report uncovered that according to survey by PWC in March 2022, one in five employees is planning to resign from work, with 71% of them citing financial reasons behind such a decision. The report added that the recovery from COVID varied across different sectors, highlighting that employees in sectors fueled by the recovery (technology, retail, software services) would benefit from more employment opportunities and are better remunerated than those operating in distressed sectors such as travel and entertainment.  

In this context, the INSEAD report provided the scores and relative ranks of a total of 133 countries in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) for the year 2022. In specific, the GTCI is a composite index the value of which is computed using the average score of two equally-weighted sub-indices, namely the Input Sub-Index (including four main pillars: a country’s ability to “Enable”, “Attract”, “Grow”, and “Retain” talent) and the Output Sub-Index (comprising two pillars: “Vocational & Technical Skills” (VT) and “Global Knowledge Skills” (GK). The report deduced a high correlation between the GTCI scores and the GDP per capita of covered countries as developed, high-income countries dominated the top positions in the index rankings. In detail, and on a global level, Switzerland maintained its leading position in the GTCI 2022 with a score of 78.20, followed by Singapore (score: 75.80), Denmark (score: 75.44), the United States and Sweden (co-ranking 4^th with a score of 73.93) among others.

On a regional basis, the UAE came first in the GTCI 2022 rankings of Arab countries with a score of 59.67 (global rank: 25), followed by Qatar (score: 50.99; global rank: 38), Saudi Arabia (score: 48.78; global rank: 43), and Bahrain (score: 46.15; global rank: 49), only to name a few. Lebanon scored 36.62 in the GTCI 2022, placing it in the 8^th position among its Arab peers and 84^th in the world. In detail, Lebanon ranked 90^th globally in the Input Sub-Index and 61^st in the Output Sub-Index. On the Input Sub-Index front, Lebanon ranked 92^nd in the world in the talent enabling pillar (score: 35.31), 80^th in the talent attraction pillar (score: 47.89), 68^th in the talent growth pillar (score: 31.70), and 100^th in the talent retention pillar (score: 37.28). With respect to the Output Sub-Index, Lebanon positioned 74^th in the “Vocational and Technical Skills” criterion (score: 42.85) and 55^th in the “Global Knowledge Skills” criterion (score: 24.72). Furthermore, Lebanon’s best performance on the “Enable” front was in the field of Urbanisation (score: 86.88; global rank: 15), on the “Attract” front in the field of Migrant Stock (score: 73.25; global rank: 17), on the “Grow” front in the field of Business Masters Education (score: 44.52; global rank: 23), on the “Retain” front in the field of Sanitation (score: 99.12; global rank: 31), on the “Vocational & Technical Skills” front in the field of Ease of Finding Skilled Employees (score: 74.62; global rank: 5), and on the “Global Knowledge Skills” front in the field of Senior Officials and Managers (score: 40.90; global rank: 33).