The development and retention of talent, a major problem for Latin America

Developing and then retaining highly specialized talent is one of the biggest problems facing Latin American countries to achieve their economic development objectives, according to the results of a study by the World Competitiveness Center (CCM) of the IMD business school.

Geneva, November 20 (EFE) .- Developing and then retaining highly specialized talent is one of the biggest problems facing Latin American countries to achieve their objectives of economic development, according to the results of a study by the World Competitiveness Center (CCM) of the IMD business school.

This academic entity published its talent ranking today world, led by Switzerland, followed by Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Sweden and Luxembourg.

The report bases its conclusions on the analysis of three Main categories: investment and education development, attractiveness, and ability to locally produce the talent required by the economy.

Within that palette of topics, evaluates countries according to factors such as education, apprenticeships, employee training, language skills, cost and quality of life, salaries and taxes.

Of the 63 countries evaluated, Latin America has just begun to appear in 44th place, which occupies Chile, which is clearly the country best positioned in all the factors considered and which takes six places to Argentina, the next country in the region to appear in this list.

In addition to those two countries, in the Latin American region they appear in the ranking Brazil (52nd position), Colombia (55), Mexico (56) and Peru and Venezuela (63), which closes the list.

"The country that does best is Chile, with a performance that is consistent since we started preparing this report in 2014. Chile stands out for its investment in education and for the quality of it, and for knowing how to produce the necessary talent for its economy ", commented to Efe the senior economist of IMD, José Caballero.

With the exception of Chile, Latin Americans appear especially poorly placed in the factor of personal security and private property, "which is one of the bases for retain and attract talent, "explained the specialist.

" To have a steady flow of talent requires security, "he added.

In general, Latin American countries obtain a disappointing evaluation in its capacity to generate the talent that its economic objectives require, an indicator in which Mexico is in the 53rd place, Colombia in the 57th and Peru in the 58.

"If you want to have an economy based on research and development, then universities can not generate 30% of graduates in Social Sciences," said Caballero.

education is the key to producing talent, but countries assume this challenge differently, as evidenced by the fact that, among those three countries, Peru appears as the least it invests in this sector, but shows better quality.

The opposite is true of Colombia, while in Mexico the two problems are observed at the same time, a low investment in education that at the same time has a low quality.

Where Mexico exhibits a better note is in the capacity of the private sector to attract, retain and motivate talent, through training programs and the encouragement to learning, while at the same time, within the said group of countries, it has the largest number of executives with international experience.

About the United States, one of the countries Traditionally, a large part of the talent left by Latin American countries is directed, the report points out that this country runs the risk of losing competitiveness if it does not increase its investments in public education.

"On average, the United States invests less in developing local talent when compared to its peers in other parts of the world," he says. report.

On the other hand, remember that this country does it excellently compared to other countries "when it comes to attracting foreign talent, thanks to the quality of life, opportunities to career and high salaries offered, "particularly when dealing with highly specialized or executive professionals.