A lack of digital skills is widening the gap between high-income nations and the rest of the world, according to research from the Adecco Group, the world’s leading HR solutions company, in partnership with INSEAD and Google. 
 
The Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2020, released at the World Economic Forum in Davos, reveals that Switzerland continues to lead the world in talent competitiveness, having held the number one spot since the Index was launched in 2013. 
 
Overall, high income countries dominate the top 25 and the index shows that these top ‘talent champions’ are accelerating further away from the rest of the world. This divide is being intensified by the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the associated digital skills gap that has emerged between industries, sectors and nations. 
 
Acknowledging this skills mismatch and the importance of investing in human capital, the Adecco Group is committing to upskill and reskill 5 million people by 2030. The reskilling push will be led by the Group’s training and development arm, General Assembly, which specializes in equipping individuals and teams with today’s most indemand digital skills including data science, coding and machine learning capabilities. 
 
Commenting on the 2020 Index, the Adecco Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Alain Dehaze said: 
 
“As machines and algorithms continue to affect a multiplicity of tasks and responsibilities and almost every job gets reinvented, having the right talent has never been more critical. 
 
Today, robots and algorithms have travelled beyond the factory floor and are functioning at front of house, the back office and company headquarters. At all levels, workers need training to hone quintessential “human skills” - adaptability, social intelligence, communication, problem solving and leadership - that will complement technology.  
 
This decade will be characterized by a re-skilling revolution with a focus on ‘fusion skills’ - enabling humans and machines to work in harmony in a hybrid model.” 
 
The theme of this year’s GTCI report focuses on global talent in the age of AI.  Notably, the report finds that more than half of the population in the developing world lack basic digital skills, and that the digital skills gap is only widening, with a few countries progressing quickly while most of the developing world lags behind. 
 
New approaches are being tried and tested to find the optimum balance, where people and technology can successfully work side by side and thrive in the workplace of the future. As these new collaborations continue to be developed, global talent competitiveness is being redefined, with nations striving to position themselves as leaders of the AI revolution. While the digital skills gap is significant and continuing to expand, the report’s analysis found that AI could provide significant opportunities for emerging markets to ‘leapfrog’.   
 
For example, the longitudinal analyses of talent competitiveness reveal that some developing countries such as China, Costa Rica and Malaysia possess the potential to become ‘talent champions’ in their respective regions. Meanwhile, other countries like Ghana and India have improved their capacity to enable, attract, grow and retain talent in recent years, earning them status as ‘talent movers’.   
 
Looking at cities, New York tops the ranking this year, followed by London, Singapore, San Francisco and Boston. New York’s leading position can be attributed to its strong performance across four of the five pillars measured in the research, specifically in the “Enable”, “Attract”, “Grow” and “Global Knowledge Skills” categories.   
 
In the report, an interview of Nicolas Schmit, current European Commissioner in charge of the Jobs and Social Rights portfolio, explaining about how his native Luxembourg is approaching the opportunities and changes brought about by AI. He highlights the importance of good performances of ICT infrastructures, the need of guarantees in term of data protection and privacy, the challenge of establishing the required new relationship between humans and machines and the key role of upskilling. 

Nicolas Schmitt comments : “In Luxembourg, we want to be a date hub. Therefore we have to encourage ways to own or share the really big powerful computers that can handle big data. Such an approach will have a significant employment impact, as repetitive jobs vanish and new ones are created. Some sectors, like finance -which is key to the economy of Luxembourg- will be deeply transformed : tomorrow’s banks will be closer to fintech’s. This means that the changes will not be just technological but also organizational.” 

He added : “I’m not pessimist regarding the future of AI and jobs, as I believe this future depends on us, on how we organize the world of work, probably we have to totally change the way people work. This can translate into greater opportunities.” 
 
Luxembourg’s position 
 
In GTCI 2020, Luxembourg is ranked 8 out of a sample of 132 countries (Figure 1). It stands out in two dimensions: attracting (2nd) and retaining (4th) talent. As for the former, the country has a high degree of External Openness (2nd) thanks to the country’s strong ability to attract foreign business and talent. As for the latter, Luxembourg’s world-class pension system and social protection contributes to its solid Sustainability (2nd).  

The country is a highly innovative and entrepreneurial country (it ranks 3rd in Talent Impact), but its pool of Global Knowledge Skills (11th) would increase with greater High-Level Skills (19th).  

Luxembourg’s lowest rankings are in the Grow (19th) and Vocational and Technical Skills (16th) pillars, where areas for improvement include strengthening Formal Education (60th) and ensuring the Employability (25th) of domestic talent in the private sector. 

Luxembourg is ranked 8 within the group of high-income countries (implying that 83 percent of countries rank lower). As for the other income groups, it outperforms the top-ranked country in each of them.  

As can be seen, Luxembourg's GTCI score and GDP per capita are both greater than the corresponding medians of its group of competitors. Thus, the country's talent competitiveness is in line with what would be expected given its income level. 

The performance of Luxembourg is higher than the average of high-income countries in each of the six pillars. Its greatest showing, comparatively speaking, is in the pillar related to Attract. With respect to its region, Luxembourg outperforms Europe in each of the six pillars. Just as it does against its income group, Luxembourg performs particularly well against its region in the pillar that relates to Attract.