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According to the IMD World Talent Report 2015 issued by the IMD World Competitiveness Center, Taiwan’s competitiveness ranks number 23 among 61 countries, exceeding Japan, South Korea and China.

CNA reports, the report is compiled based on 30 indicators, including education and labor market factors, which were selected from more than 300 indicators employed in the World Competitiveness Yearbook.

The National Development Committee says that Taiwan has gone up four ranks compared to its ranking in 2014 and is fourth place among other Asian countries, only lower than Singapore (10), Hong Kong (12) and Malaysia (15). But this ranking is better than Japan (26), South Korea (31) and China (40).

Taiwan’s performance in three main talent factors

In the three main criteria, investment and development factor, appeal factor and readiness factor, Taiwan ranks 18 in the first section, showing the outstanding effect of the government’s promotion of reforming vocational education and the policy collaborating the school and industry.

In the appeal factor, Taiwan ranks 26, showing the island still needs to improve its skills to keep foreign talent.

In addition, Taiwan is still at number 50 regarding the brain drain situation and ranks number 47 in attracting foreign high-skilled people. This shows Taiwan’s problem of brain drain and its insufficient attractiveness of foreign talents, which might harm Taiwan’s human resource capital.

What do people working abroad say?

Epoch Times reports, 1111 human resources bank has released a survey pointing out that over 80% of employers have thought about or is thinking about working abroad. Up to 85.6% of interviewees say they are thinking about going overseas because the environment of the domestic labor market is bad.

91% of interviewees that have worked abroad say their salary was higher than their last job in Taiwan. In general, jobs overseas offer salaries that are 30% higher than what they can get in Taiwan. This shows a huge gap in salary standards inside and outside of Taiwan.

The survey further asked why Taiwanese people would like to work abroad. The three major reasons are “low salary standards” (62.6%), “wanting to broaden perspectives/becoming an international talent” (54.3%) and “being optimistic with the foreign market/the development of industries abroad” (27.9%).

CNA reports, the Associate General Manager of 1111 human resources bank Li Da-hua analyzes that most of the interviewees that intend to work abroad would like to do jobs related to personal specialties. This shows Taiwan labor’s profession and experiences in Taiwan are attractive to foreign businesses.

Apple Daily reports, Taiwanese employees believe their advantages lies in their Chinese ability, tolerance and durability. On the other hand, they also worry about the language barrier they might encounter. Their family in Taiwan might need caring or the working conditions might not meet their expectations and so on.

The survey also found out up to 25% of interviewees are unwilling to go back to Taiwan to work. Those who want to work overseas for more than 10 years also account for 10%. The results show the problem of brain drain is quite serious and will deteriorate the balance of demand and supply in human resources.

Translated by June
Edited by Olivia Yang

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