Johannesburg - South Africa is slipping down the rankings of countries in which it is easy to source, hire and keep staff.
This is according to ManpowerGroup Solutions’ third Contingent Workforce Index (CWI), which was released on Tuesday.
The index tracks the relative ease of sourcing, hiring and retaining contingent workforce in 75 countries.
In the latest report, New Zealand comes in at the top spot as its has the most optimal scores across the four categories of labour availability, cost efficiency, regulation and productivity.
The US remains in second place for the second consecutive year, and Canada moves from seventh to third.
In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, Israel moved from fourth to first, Ireland from sixth to second, the UAE from first to third and the UK from second to fourth.
South Africa, however, has dropped to sixth place among the nations ranked in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, having previously been in the top three, because it dropped in both the regulation and cost efficiency categories.
Overall, the country lost 0.07 percentage points.
"The South African labour market continues to be challenged by high unemployment and an ongoing skills deficit. Despite this, the country still remained within the top 25 - this year at number 19, says Lyndy van den Barselaar, MD of Manpower South Africa.
Last year, SA came in at 11th.
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Van den Barselaar says it is imperative that provincial government and the private sector continue to support employment through skills training, and support for small-, medium- and macro-enterprises. This, she says, is needed “to maintain and create further growth within the job market. This kind of support for the country's job market, paired with increased foreign investment will increase South Africa's CWI.”
Overall, this year’s rankings show that business leaders are paying more attention to talent shortages, particularly the potential for a shrinking workforce due to an aging population, notes Kate Donovan, senior VP of ManpowerGroup Solutions. She adds: “Rising in importance is a population's English proficiency, given the increased costs that result when proficiency is low.”
In Asia Pacific, China showed the biggest movement, falling from second in 2014 to 10th this year. The key driver of this movement is the increased emphasis on English Proficiency and educational parameters, notes ManpowerGroup Solutions.
In the Americas, the rankings remained relatively constant year-on-year, with the US, Canada and Chile remaining in the top three positions for the region.
IOL