Research from The Conference Board highlights the challenges and opportunities for employees all across Europe.
The Conference Board, a global business membership and research platform, has published a report on the “best and worst places to hire in Europe”, with Ireland in the third-highest position, behind Denmark (in first) and Switzerland (in second). Countries were ranked via assessment by CHROs and senior HR leaders from 24 multinational companies, across 10 drivers of labour attractiveness.
These included talent and skills, workforce cost and competitiveness, workplace culture institutions and society, and lastly, labour market dynamics. According to the report, in Ireland, “globally-oriented talent and a flexible labour market attract major investment, though rising costs and infrastructure pressures limit scalability”.
The remaining seven in the top 10 included Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, The Netherlands, Austria and Germany.
A number of countries, however, failed to meet the mark, with the report stating that some of “Europe’s largest economies are failing to convert talent into jobs”.
“Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain all risk losing out in the race for jobs, as aging populations, slow digitalisation and high costs cause major employers to consider more agile, innovative-driven alternatives.”
The Conference Board stated that talent is one of Europe’s greatest assets, but many of the region’s largest economies are “unable to turn their deep pool of skilled labour into jobs and growth because political inertia and regulatory friction are blunting their competitive edge”.
However, while the report found that smaller countries in the Nordics and Western Europe offer the most in terms of a competitive labour market, it noted that “even the leaders – Denmark, Switzerland and Ireland – face challenges, with competition from a rising cohort of Central and Eastern European reformers”.
Though lower on the list, countries such as Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Czechia are benefiting from rising education standards, digital capability and EU integration which is positioning them as efficient expansion hubs for multinationals.
“The index is an alarm call to European leaders about how political paralysis and poor regulation is upending Europe’s competitiveness,” said Jean-Marc Verbist, the human capital centre leader for Europe at The Conference Board.
“Europe’s largest labour markets are hitting a structural breaking point. They have the skills, but not the competitiveness to match them. For workers, this means something tangible: job creation, increasing flows to markets offering speed, simplicity and digital readiness.”
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