Portugal is more competitive in terms of talent this year. It rose from 26th to 24th place in a table that analyses the competitiveness of 63 nations in terms of attracting, developing and retaining talent, and which is headed by Switzerland, Sweden and Iceland.

However, in terms of attractiveness, the country fell ten positions, now settling in 40th place, reveals the world talent ranking of the IMD World Competitiveness Center 2022, reported by ECO.

“According to the data, attracting and retaining talent, motivating employees, and draining talent should deserve the attention of company leaders and managers. More than attracting talent, Portugal's challenge is being able to retain it. Salary and benefits are an important factor in professionals’ decision-making, but not the only one”, says Ramon O’Callaghan, dean of Porto Business School, an exclusive partner at the national level in the elaboration of the ranking.

“It's important to introduce and integrate professionals into more attractive projects and invest in the conversion and reconversion of talents, through investment in people's training and development. It is also important to design work models that promote flexibility (which implies greater responsibility in managing work) and a better balance between professional and personal life”, he adds in a statement.

After having achieved its best result in 2018, when it ranked 17th, Portugal has lost ground in the last three years. However, this year it finally managed to reverse the trend, rising again in the ranking. Portugal recorded a rise of two positions compared to the previous year, to 24th place.

The results are marked by the country's growth in the "Investment & Development" factors (in which it rose from 25th to 22nd place), thanks to the positive performance of the pupil/teacher ratio criteria in primary education and the pupil ratio /teachers in secondary education, and “Preparation” (in which it climbed six levels, moving from 25th to 19th position), justified by the positive performance of the language skills criterion.

Female participation in the workforce (49.7%) is also one of the main national highlights. On the other hand, the training of employees is the greatest national weakness in this factor, where Portugal is even in the last places of the ranking (61st).

Despite the rise achieved in the general position, Portugal registers a decrease of ten places in the “Attractiveness” factor, now positioning itself in 40th place. The drop is based on “the performance of the criteria for attracting and retaining talent, the employee motivation index, the flight of talent and the perception of justice, which register a low performance”, reveals the document.