Southeast Asia’s largest economy rose 14 places within the business school graduates’ Global Talent Competitiveness Index for 2019-2023 in comparison with the previous five-year period, making it the world’s second-largest economy after jumping 16 places in Albania. However, there continues to be much work to be done for Indonesia, which ranked seventy fifth out of 113 countries.
Indonesia still lacks the high-level skills required for knowledge employees in skilled, managerial or leadership positions.
According to a separate report by HSBC Holdings Plc, greater than 70 percent of the workforce is employed in low-wage sectors akin to agriculture and construction.
‘Losing talent’: Flight of young Indonesians to Singapore worries Jakarta
‘Losing talent’: Flight of young Indonesians to Singapore worries Jakarta
“If Indonesia makes progress in increasing talent competitiveness, wages and worker productivity with such a large population, it will be able to reap a demographic dividend,” said Felipe Monteiro, academic director of the INSEAD index.
“This creates a virtuous cycle of higher GDP that attracts talent, which in turn drives even higher GDP.”
“When a major transformation like this happens, emerging markets always have a chance to leapfrog,” Monteiro said.
