State ranked highly for attracting skilled workers but low on gender equality

The State and Dublin have been ranked among the top locations in the world for attracting and nurturing skilled workers.

The survey by global recruitment firm the Adecco Group suggested, however, that the Republic was only average when it came to nurturing female talent. It ranked 47th out of 132 on the gender development gap.

It also ranked poorly (82nd) when it came to hiring female graduates. The report said Ireland’s overall rating as a “talent hub” was being held back because of its poor score on gender equality issues.

According to the group’s latest Global Talent Competitiveness Index, the State climbed from 16th to 15th place in the world for its ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers.

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The country rated strongly when it came to attracting talent and overseas business thanks to high scores in several categories such as its tolerance of minorities (first), foreign direct investment (FDI) and technology transfer (first), external openness (ninth) and internal openness (13th).

It also scored strongly for having a strong pool of vocational and technical skills (11th), where a key strength is how well it matches labour supply with market demand (eighth in employability).

Rankings

There were solid performances too in both high-level skills (13th) and talent impact (11th) suggesting that the country also has a good pool of global knowledge skills (12th).

Switzerland came first in the global rankings as the top hub for global talent, followed by the US and Singapore.

The report also suggested that some cities rather than countries were strengthening their role as talent hubs with Dublin moving from 35th to 13th place in the overall rankings of 155 cities worldwide. This was fuelled by the Irish capital’s ability to create a favourable climate to attract and nurture talent, the study said.

New York was ranked top in the city rankings ahead of London and Singapore.

"It's great to see that both Ireland and Dublin have been named as top global talent hubs thanks to their thriving base of businesses, which attract and welcome a diverse selection of people," Alex Fleming, president and country head of the Adecco Group in Ireland and the UK, said.

“The area where Ireland always excels in is in attracting overseas business, which fuels a spirit of entrepreneurship as well as employment opportunities,” she said.

“The chance to rise up the ranking as a talent magnet is vast, but to get there Ireland will need to improve its performance on gender equality and the hiring of female graduates,” she added.