By Yi Whan-woo
A rigid labor market, worsening fiscal soundness and inefficiency in government and corporate management pulled down Korea's global competitiveness ranking for the first time in four years, in an annual survey taken by one of the world's top-ranked business schools.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance said, Wednesday, Korea fell by four notches to 27th place in the 2022 report by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) on the global competitiveness of 63 countries.
A Switzerland-based school specialized in executive education, the IMD assessed 63 countries based on four categories: economic performance, government efficiency, corporate efficiency and infrastructure.
Korea had been climbing up the ranking ― 28th in 2019 and 23rd in 2020 and 2021 ― before it fell to 27th in the latest IMD survey.
The 2022 ranking comes as the world's 10th-largest economy is struggling with a snowballing fiscal deficit amid a slowdown in growth that was slashed to the 2-percent range while inflation was revised up to the 4-percent range in the latest outlooks.
Among the 29 surveyed countries with populations of over 20 million, Korea fell by a notch from 2021 to ninth. It trailed the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom to come in at fourth among countries with per capita incomes of at least $30,000 and populations exceeding 50 million.
By categories, Korea's ranking declined from 18th to 22nd in economic performance, from 34th to 36th in government efficiency and from 27th to 33rd in corporate efficiency.
It performed especially poorly in the labor market category. Korea ranked 42nd in labor market efficiency, down five notches from the previous year.
In terms of infrastructure, Korea came in at 16th, up from 17th the previous year, due largely to a rise in its standing in the education sector.
"We will push for reform in the public sector, labor, education, finance and the service industry as targeted by the new government to raise the nation's global competitiveness," the finance ministry said, adding that it will also "aggressively seek reinvigoration in public-private sector cooperation."
By country, Denmark topped the 2022 ranking for the first time, after moving up two notches from 2021.
The IMD praised Denmark as "the most digitally advanced country in the world and now takes the top spot thanks to good policies, advantages afforded by being a European country, a clear focus on sustainability and a push from its agile corporate sector."
It was followed by Switzerland, Singapore, Sweden, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Finland, Norway and the U.S.
China was ranked 17th and Japan was at 34th.
A rigid labor market, worsening fiscal soundness and inefficiency in government and corporate management pulled down Korea's global competitiveness ranking for the first time in four years, in an annual survey taken by one of the world's top-ranked business schools.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance said, Wednesday, Korea fell by four notches to 27th place in the 2022 report by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) on the global competitiveness of 63 countries.
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Korea had been climbing up the ranking ― 28th in 2019 and 23rd in 2020 and 2021 ― before it fell to 27th in the latest IMD survey.
The 2022 ranking comes as the world's 10th-largest economy is struggling with a snowballing fiscal deficit amid a slowdown in growth that was slashed to the 2-percent range while inflation was revised up to the 4-percent range in the latest outlooks.
Among the 29 surveyed countries with populations of over 20 million, Korea fell by a notch from 2021 to ninth. It trailed the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom to come in at fourth among countries with per capita incomes of at least $30,000 and populations exceeding 50 million.
By categories, Korea's ranking declined from 18th to 22nd in economic performance, from 34th to 36th in government efficiency and from 27th to 33rd in corporate efficiency.
It performed especially poorly in the labor market category. Korea ranked 42nd in labor market efficiency, down five notches from the previous year.
In terms of infrastructure, Korea came in at 16th, up from 17th the previous year, due largely to a rise in its standing in the education sector.
"We will push for reform in the public sector, labor, education, finance and the service industry as targeted by the new government to raise the nation's global competitiveness," the finance ministry said, adding that it will also "aggressively seek reinvigoration in public-private sector cooperation."
By country, Denmark topped the 2022 ranking for the first time, after moving up two notches from 2021.
The IMD praised Denmark as "the most digitally advanced country in the world and now takes the top spot thanks to good policies, advantages afforded by being a European country, a clear focus on sustainability and a push from its agile corporate sector."
It was followed by Switzerland, Singapore, Sweden, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Finland, Norway and the U.S.
China was ranked 17th and Japan was at 34th.
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