Azerbaijan leads Global Talent Competitiveness Index among CIS countries

By Azernews

By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan is a leader among the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index Report 2019.

Commenting on the report, Vusal Gasimli, Executive Director of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication, noted that Azerbaijan improved its position in the report by 14 positions and ranked 43rd among 125 countries. Thus, Azerbaijan is a leader in the post-Soviet space, except the Baltic states.

“The closest to Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan ranked 49th and 57th, respectively,” he added.

The Global Talent Competitiveness Index Report is calculated based on six indicators, including conditions created for talent, attracting the talent, talent development, provision of talent’s stay in the country, vocational and technical education, and higher specialties.

Azerbaijan received the highest rating in category “vocational and technical education” (25th place), and the lowest in “talent development” (81st place). As for other indicators, the country ranked 48th in “conditions created for talent”, the 44th - in “attracting talent”, the 41st - in “provision of talent’s stay in the country” and the 68th in “higher specialties”.

As for sub-indicators, Azerbaijan was ranked 1st in easiness of recruitment, 32nd in active labor market policy, 30th in employee-employer cooperation, 14th in salary adequacy to productivity, 28th in direct foreign investment and technology transfer, 17th in talent attraction, and 34th in women's leadership possibilities.

In addition, the country holds the 26th place in intra-enterprise cooperation, the 19th in inter-enterprise cooperation, 33rd in social security, 25th in provision of talent’s stay in the country, 26th in number of doctors, 5th in labor force with secondary education, 4th place in population with secondary education, 30th place in opportunity to find skilled employee, 33rd in education adequacy to the economy, 20th in secondary education’s adequacy to the labor market, 36th in higher education’s adequacy to the labor market, 33rd in people with higher education, and the 23rd place in accessibility of scientists and engineers.

Global Talent Competitiveness Index Report targets to create a global discussion around the potential and talent of individuals and teams to enhance innovation, growth and competitiveness. In 2015-2016, Azerbaijan ranked 71st in this index, in 66th place in 2017 and 57th place in 2018.

According to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index, Azerbaijan is among the top three countries with high average incomes and ranks seventh among the countries of West Asia and North Africa.

The report was compiled by INSEAD Business School, one of the leading universities in the world, The Adecco Group and Tata Communications.

The index compilers assess the ability of countries to develop human capital and attract talented workers. The competitiveness increases in countries where this indicator is already high, while this figure decreases in countries that weren’t previously distinguished by high competitiveness. In other words, talented employees increasingly prefer to concentrate in the countries that have the best conditions for living and working.