India 3rd most popular country for talent hunt

New Delhi, Jun 24: A Borderless Workforce Survey entailing 27 countries brought to light today the fact that India is the third most popular country for sourcing foreign talent, next only to China and the United States.

The findings of the Survey, which involved 1,924 respondents in India, however, showed that only 21 per cent of employers think the Indian government and businesses are doing enough to slow the outward migration of talent or attract these people back to the country. Thus, the phenomenon of brain drain, which took its toll in the yester years continues unabated and the concept of reverse brain drain has not yet gained currency. The Survey was conducted by Manpower Inc, a New York Stock Exchange-listed company and a world leader in employment services industry, involving a global sample size of 28,000 in 27 countries. India receives the highest remittances from nationals working abroad to the tune of 27 billion dollars, closely followed by China at 25.7 billion dollars, Mexico at 25 billion dollars and Philippines at 17 billion dollars.

The Survey shows that India has the highest number of nationals working abroad, who have undergone tertiary education. Of the nearly 2.2 million Indians working abroad, 53 per cent have acquired tertiary education. Notwithstanding the fact that India is a labour surplus country with a huge number of skilled manpower, the Survey says that 57 per cent of global employers are concerned about the impact on labour market from talent migrating abroad.

Employers in public administration/education, services, finance, insurance and real estate and manufacturing are most concerned, while employers in wholesale and retail, transport and utilities and mining, energy and construction are least concerned, the Survey says. The survey also indicated that employers in India consider China, the US and the UK as the biggest competitive threats to their ability to compete economically.

An interesting fact brought forward was that India ranks third in the list of top 10 countries believed to be an economic threat to other nations. ''Of the 26 countries surveyed (other than India), all countries, except Costa Rica and Peru, believe India provides competitive threat to their own country's ability to compete economically,'' the Survey notes.

UNI