IMD World Talent Ranking 2022

Preface

We are very pleased to present the ninth edition of the IMD World Talent Ranking (WTR). We are happy to be including Bahrain in this year’s edition.

The 2022 WTR is being launched in a context of continuous worldwide disruptions. While the pandemic that brought a health and an economic crisis seems to have subsided in most parts of the world, the re-emergence of geopolitical risks has introduced fresh turmoil into the international system. The economic crisis is continuing in different parts of the world and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia puts geopolitical risk at the forefront of the minds – and therefore decision-making process – of politicians and businesspeople.

Over the course of the past two years, many of us have become accustomed to the prevalence of terms such as ‘remote working’ and ‘home office’; but suddenly companies seem to be reevaluating their policies regarding teleworking.

The 2022 WTR highlights that today’s most talent-competitive economies possess the ability to develop and retain their home-grown skilled labor while providing an environment that attracts foreign skilled labor and retains both domestic and international talent. In addition, now that we can compare our 2019 findings with those of 2022, we find pre- and post-pandemic patterns with respect to brain drain. These suggest that COVID-19 has had a profound impact on skilled individuals’ decisions to leave a particular country. Faced with this crippling of talent’s mobility, the economies that subsequently strengthened their quality of life as well as their commitment to environmental issues managed to boost their appeal which benefitted their talent competitiveness. The total number of economies that the 2022 WTR assesses is 63; two economies fewer than you may have expected. The reason behind this is that the reliability of the data collected for Russia and Ukraine was limited and therefore these two economies have not been included in this year’s edition. We are eternally grateful to our many stakeholders for the support and assistance they provide: our global network of partner institutes, the IMD alumni community and our executive opinion formers who, together, offer crucial data and insights in order to complete not just our Talent Ranking, but our entire yearly offering.

Professor Arturo Bris Director IMD World Competitiveness Center

Christos Cabolis Chief Economist & Head of Operations IMD World Competitiveness Center

World Competitiveness Center

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