Digital skills gap intensifies widening pide between high-income nations & rest of world. The Adecco Group commits to upskill / reskill five million people by 2030

· Report finds that gap between high income, talent-rich nations and the rest of the world is widening; more than half of the population in the developing world lack basic digital skills

· Switzerland tops this year’s ranking, followed by the United States, its highest place yet, and Singapore in third place

· AI talent is particularly scarce and unequally distributed across industries, sectors and nations 

· Broad-based re-skilling is urgently needed to develop ‘fusion skills’ that enable humans and machines to effectively and efficiently interact in hybrid activities

· The Adecco Group commits to reskill and upskill five million people around the world by 2030, led by General Assembly, the Group’s skilling arm and global leader in future-skills education

Davos, Switzerland, 22nd January 2020, A lack of digital skills is widening the gap between high-income nations and the rest of the world, according to research from the Adecco Group, the world’s leading HR solutions company, in partnership with INSEAD and Google.  

The Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2020, released at the World Economic Forum in Davos, reveals that Switzerland continues to lead the world in talent competitiveness, having held the number one spot since the Index was launched in 2013, and the US moves from third place to second, pushing Singapore down one place compared to 2019.  

China is ranked 42 out of a sample of 132 countries (moves up 3 places from 45 last year). China’s performances in the various pillars of the GTCI are quite checkered. On the one hand, China finds itself in the top quartile in two pillars—Grow (22nd) and Global Knowledge Skills (29th)—mainly as a result of its world-class educational system (8th in Formal Education) and its standing as a global power in innovation (15th in Talent Impact). On the other hand, it ranks in the second quartile when it comes to attracting (87th) talent and Vocational and Technical Skills (73rd), where higher levels of both External Openness (83rd) and Internal Openness (89th) would improve the former pillar and greater Mid-Level Skills would do much to strengthen the latter pillar.

2020 Top 20 rankings – countries  

In its seventh edition, Switzerland continues to lead the 2020 Global Talent Competitiveness Index, while the United States and Singapore come in second and third respectively, having swapped rankings compared to last year.  

The top three is followed by Sweden (4th), Denmark (5th), Netherlands (6th) and Finland (7th).

Yemen has finished at the bottom of this year’s index at 132nd as they had in 2019, just below Congo (130th) and Angola (131st).  

As with previous years, higher rankings are associated with higher income economies.  

Policies and practices that bring about talent competitiveness in developed nations are less susceptible to political and socioeconomic instability.  

Higher income countries have the steady infrastructure to invest in the likes of lifelong learning, re-/upskilling and attracting and retaining global talent.  

2020 Top 10 Ranking – cities  

The leading cities are those that perform well across the five pillars of the talent spectrum. The city in first place – New York – is demonstrative of this, being a top 10 city across four of the five categories. Cities continue to act as test labs for new AI-based tools such as facial recognition, tele-surveillance and autonomous vehicles. The success of these technologies vary from one city to another, results that are worth watching closely before such tools can be sustainably deployed on a larger scale, longer term.  

Overall, high income countries dominate the top 25 and the index shows that these top ‘talent champions’ are accelerating further away from the rest of the world. This pide is being intensified by the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the associated digital skills gap that has emerged between industries, sectors and nations.

Acknowledging this skills mismatch and the importance of investing in human capital, the Adecco Group is committing to upskill and reskill 5 million people by 2030. The reskilling push will be led by the Group’s training and development arm, General Assembly, which specializes in equipping inpiduals and teams with today’s most in-demand digital skills including data science, coding and machine learning capabilities.

Commenting on the 2020 Index, the Adecco Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Alain Dehaze said:

“As machines and algorithms continue to affect a multiplicity of tasks and responsibilities and almost every job gets reinvented, having the right talent has never been more critical.

Today, robots and algorithms have travelled beyond the factory floor and are functioning at front of house, the back office and company headquarters. At all levels, workers need training to hone quintessential “human skills” - adaptability, social intelligence, communication, problem solving and leadership - that will complement technology.

This decade will be characterized by a re-skilling revolution with a focus on ‘fusion skills’ - enabling humans and machines to work in harmony in a hybrid model. With this in mind, the Adecco Group is committing to upskill and reskill five million people around the world by 2030 – equipping inpiduals with future skills that will enable them to thrive in the AI age.”

The theme of this year’s GTCI report focuses on global talent in the age of AI.  Notably, the report finds that more than half of the population in the developing world lack basic digital skills, and that the digital skills gap is only widening, with a few countries progressing quickly while most of the developing world lags behind.

New approaches are being tried and tested to find the optimum balance, where people and technology can successfully work side by side and thrive in the workplace of the future. As these new collaborations continue to be developed, global talent competitiveness is being redefined, with nations striving to position themselves as leaders of the AI revolution. While the digital skills gap is significant and continuing to expand, the report’s analysis found that AI could provide significant opportunities for emerging markets to ‘leapfrog’.  

For example, the longitudinal analyses of talent competitiveness reveal that some developing countries such as China, Costa Rica and Malaysia possess the potential to become ‘talent champions’ in their respective regions. Meanwhile, other countries like Ghana and India have improved their capacity to enable, attract, grow and retain talent in recent years, earning them status as ‘talent movers’.  

Looking at cities, New York tops the ranking this year, followed by London, Singapore, San Francisco and Boston. New York’s leading position can be attributed to its strong performance across four of the five pillars measured in the research, specifically in the “Enable”, “Attract”, “Grow” and “Global Knowledge Skills” categories.  

Generally, cities with a proven ability for “future readiness” ranked highly, with activities in fields including AI, fintech and medtech, favouring the talent performance of the top five. Many cities are increasingly becoming testbeds for new AI based tools such as facial recognition, tele-surveillance and autonomous vehicles. The success of these vary across cities, but those that do well will emerge as AI hubs that have the talent pools to sustainably deploy global solutions.

About the 2020 Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI)

In its 7th edition, the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) is an annual benchmarking tool ranking countries and major cities on their ability to develop, attract and retain talent. Developed in 2013 by INSEAD in partnership with the Adecco Group, the report provides a tool for governments, cities, businesses and not-for-profit organisations to help design their talent strategies, overcome talent mismatches and be competitive in the global marketplace. GTCI covers national and organisational parameters and generates insights to inspire action. This year’s index includes 70 variables and covers 132 countries and 155 cities, across all groups of income and levels of development. The GTCI is a composite index, relying on a robust, action-focused Input-Output model, for policymakers and business leaders to learn from and respond to.

The 2020 edition addresses the theme of Global Talent in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. The report aims to explore how the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not only changing the nature of work but also forcing a re-evaluation of workplace practices, corporate structures and innovation ecosystems. As machines and algorithms continue to affect a multiplicity of tasks and  responsibilities and almost every job gets reinvented, the right talent is required not only to carry out new responsibilities and ways to work, but also to capture value from this transformative technology. This topic stands at the heart of the debate in this era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution as AI has become a game-changer in every industry and sector. Current education and skills acquisition will be transformed as well, implying that formal and informal learning structures will evolve to meet the needs created by this very same AI-driven world.

For more information:  

· 2020 GTCI website

· Full 2020 GTCI report

· 2020 GTCI executive summary

· GTCI 2020 highlights infographic