Korea’s Competitiveness Ranking Surges to 11th
By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
The country's global competitiveness ranking soared to an all-time high this year as the world's 13th largest economy scored better on infrastructure, technology readiness, higher education and other competitiveness categories.
According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008 released by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) Wednesday, South Korea's ranking surged by 12 notches to 11th this year from a year earlier, the highest ever.
Based on a combination of publicly available data and a survey of over 11,000 business leaders in 131 economies across the globe, the report gives an overview of the strengths and weaknesses in various countries every year.
The United States topped the list of the overall country rankings, followed by Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden. Among Asian countries, Singapore was the most competitive as it ranked seventh, closely followed by Japan at eighth. Hong Kong came in 12th place and Taiwan at 14th, while China fell one notch to 34th from a year earlier.
Korea received high marks on macroeconomic management, school enrollment rates, technology levels and innovation, but continued to lag behind in institutions, financial market sophistication and labor market efficiency, according to the report.
The country ranked higher in 11 out of 12 competitiveness indices than the previous year. Its ranking in infrastructure rose to 16th this year from 23rd last year, while competitiveness in higher education and training jumped by 15 notches to 6th. Also, Korea scored high on technology readiness (7th), business sophistication (9th) and innovation (8th).
``Korea's ranking rose to the highest ever this year, partly because the government minimized the introduction of new regulatory policies. Also, the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement had a positive impact on business leaders' view of Korea,'' said Prof. Shin Chul-ho of Seoul School of Integrated Sciences & Technologies (SSIST), the WEF's research partner here.
However, the report pointed out Korea's institutional weaknesses in health and primary education sectors, and labor rigidity, and its financial market inefficiency even though it performed better on such categories.
Korea ranked 26th in institutions, which cover policy consistency, bureaucratic red tape and tax regulations; 27th in health and primary education; 24th in labor marketing efficiency; and 27th in financial market sophistication.
It said Korea has the potential to become more competitive, having already demonstrated its success in building and nurturing an internationally competitive information technology sector. ``However, Korea's ability to succeed depends on its commitment to improving both quality of its public and private institutions, as well as the efficiency of its financial markets, among other things.
It advised Korea to implement measures to create a more business-friendly environment and strengthen its services industry. ``Also, it needs to improve often uneasy labor-management relations, upgrade health and welfare-related infrastructure, and increase efficiency of the labor and financial markets.''