Over the past decade, Indonesia has made significant progress in talent development and utilization among other Asian countries, according to a report by INSEAD. In the Global Talent Competitiveness Index for the period 2019-2023, Indonesia managed to achieve an improvement of 14 ranks compared to the previous five years.
This makes Indonesia the second most improved country in the world, behind only Albania, which moved up 16 ranks. However, as Southeast Asia's largest economy, Indonesia still has challenges to overcome, as it currently ranks 75th out of 113 countries in the index.
The global talent landscape is dominated by wealthy countries, with Switzerland consistently topping the rankings each year, followed by Singapore and the United States. However, developing countries such as Indonesia have made significant progress in improving quality of life and job security.
Nevertheless, Indonesia is still lagging when it comes to the high-level skills required by knowledge workers for professional, managerial, and leadership roles.
Felipe Monteiro, INSEAD's Academic Director, said Indonesia's potential for a demographic dividend could be realized if the country makes progress in improving talent competitiveness, salaries, and worker productivity. According to him, this achievement could lead to a virtuous cycle of higher GDP growth, attracting more talent and ultimately driving further economic growth.
Monteiro added that Indonesia's strong population of 270 million, two-thirds of whom are of productive age, has the potential to drive economic growth, as has happened in China.
He also noted that the opportunity to adopt automation and artificial intelligence gives Indonesia the chance to rapidly transform its workforce, overcome the constraints of legacy systems, and provide opportunities for emerging markets to leapfrog in the face of such major transformations.
