KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 — Malaysia has moved up to the 26th position out of 88 countries in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2020 (GTCI 2020), two spots higher than its 28th ranking last year.

In a statement today, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) said Malaysia’s newly earned accolade for talent development had dominated in multiple categories.

“It is the only country from the upper-middle income bracket that is in the top quartile of the report.

“Malaysia has outperformed high-income economy countries in the list such as China, South Korea, Spain, and Portugal,” it said.

The GTCI 2020 report is jointly produced by INSEAD University, Google and Adecco which track and measure the world’s talent performances.

In terms of performance ranking, Malaysia scored strongly in the Enable, Attract, and Vocational and Technical Skills pillars, due to the concerted efforts in developing digital tech talents and upskilling the nation’s next-generation workforce.

MDEC said the country had also improved its ranking significantly in the Retain pillar, adding that these pillars are the key thrusts in Malaysia’s continuous investment in talent development and acts as the pivot to empower businesses to deploy new technologies that enable and sustain business performance and continuity.

The report also commended Malaysia’s impressive ability to consistently match labour market supply and demand, coming in at 6th place globally for Employability.

“These achievements clearly reinforce the fact that Malaysia is on the right track to develop industry-ready digital talent. We must continue to level up our workforce and provide a conducive environment for digital innovation and creativity to thrive.

“More importantly, businesses now need such talents as entire industries must be digitalised as the global economy explores a new norm for a post-Covid-19 period,” said MDEC chief executive officer Surina Shukri.