Singapore named 8th most attractive destination for global talent: Boston Consulting Group

The Lion City is Southeast Asia’s most favoured destination for remote work.

Singapore has moved up 10 spots to 8th place in terms of being an attractive location for global talent worldwide, according to a new study by management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and recruitment platform alliance The Network.

Malaysia, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan have also ranked in terms of being attractive locations for global talent.

Whilst the city-state is Southeast Asia’s “most favoured destination” for remote employment (9th worldwide), employees willing to work for a foreign company remotely is notably lower than the global average, with only 51% of Singaporeans agreeing to do so.

Southeast Asia has also seen a notable decline in candidates’ willingness to move abroad, with only 44% of respondents in Singapore expressing so, down from 70% in 2018.

“The pandemic has transformed the attitudes of global talent, with the fall in respondents expressing an ambition to move abroad particularly acute in Southeast Asia,” said Ming Teck Kong, managing director and Southeast Asia leader for people and organization at BCG. “Asia Pacific is now seen as an increasingly attractive destination, partly due to positive performance in tackling COVID caseloads.”

Interestingly, nearly all of the countries which have moved up in the rankings have relatively low incidence of COVID-19 cases.