Your country has talent; Not all jobs are

Your country has talent

Does your country have what it takes to attract talent? Young people entering the labour market today are more educated than older workers, and as digitalisation and globalisation reshape demand for skills, countries look beyond their borders to meet their needs. However, luring in highly qualified migrants is easier said than done, since many of them, whether in areas such as health, technology or finance, find themselves in the driving seat as the competition for global talent intensifies and in a position to pick their destinations more carefully in line with their own career plans. Countries have to be appealing to them, as well as the other way around. So, what makes skilled migrants choose one country instead of another?

Answering such questions is important for securing the talent that is so essential for sustainable, inclusive growth, and our new OECD database on migration

Not all jobs are created equal

New businesses are thriving, and are generating millions of new jobs along the way. However, many of these new jobs are in low-productivity sectors. This means new jobs in hospitality and food services in Great Britain and Greece, for instance, and in construction in Italy and Norway. In almost every major OECD economy, the top three sectors generating the largest net employment gains over the period 2010 to 2016 were restaurants, health and residential care activities, and these had below average labour productivity. In contrast, the level of jobs created in small and medium-sized firms with above median productivity has been dropping since 2006. Economists believe that this has contributed to lower growth in OECD productivity in recent decades.

The trouble is that more jobs in lowerproductivity activities means more

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Attractiveness of OECD countries for potential migrants Top 10-ranked countries for highly educated workers, entrepreneurs and university students Top 10-ranked countries for highly educated workers, entrepreneurs and university students Highly educated workers Entrepreneurs University students 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 Australia Sweden Switzerland New Zealand Canada Ireland US US Netherlands Slovenia Norway Australia Sweden Switzerland New Zealand Canada Ireland Finland Germany Denmark Norway Australia Switzerland New Zealand Sweden Canada Finland France Germany Norway Top 10-ranked countries for highly educated workers, entrepreneurs and university students Highly educated workers Entrepreneurs University students 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 Australia Sweden Switzerland New Zealand Canada Ireland US US Netherlands Slovenia Norway Australia Sweden Switzerland New Zealand Canada Ireland Finland Germany Denmark Norway Australia Switzerland New Zealand Sweden Canada Finland France Germany Norway

Source: OECD/Bertelsmann Stiftung, Migration Policy Debates No. 19 May 2019

attractiveness can help provide some benchmarks.

The data shows, for instance, that Australia is particularly attractive to highly educated workers, while Canada appeals to entrepreneurs and international university students are drawn to Switzerland. How does your country compare? Find out by visiting: www.oecd.org/migration/ talent-attractiveness/

oe.cd/obs/2Uj

New jobs mainly in lower productivity sectors % of jobs created by births in sectors with above-median productivity as share of all employment created by employer enterprise births, selected countries

0 10 5 20 15 30 25 40 35 50 2016 or latest available year 2006 45 UK Switzerland Norway Latvia Israel Germany France Note: See source for more countries http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/sdbs-data-en Source: OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook 0 10 5 20 15 30 25 40 35 50 2016 or latest available year 2006 45 UK Switzerland Norway Latvia Israel Germany France Ireland Ireland Netherlands Italy Netherlands Italy Greece Greece Spain Spain

http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888933924039

lower-paid jobs. This also weighs down average salaries in the economy as a whole. Between 2010 and 2016, for example, close to 90% of all new jobs in France were created in activities with below-average wages; this number was close to 65% in Germany and the UK, and over 75% in the US.