National Competitiveness

South Korea’s national competitiveness recorded a low score while ranking 26th this year for three straight years at the assessment by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
South Korea’s national competitiveness recorded a low score while ranking 26th this year for three straight years at the assessment by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

 

South Korea’s national competitiveness recorded a low score while ranking 26th for three straight years. The World Economic Forum (WEF) announced on September 28 that as a result of assessing the competiveness of 138 countries, Korea placed 26th this year after 2014 and 2015.

 
Korea once had its eye on making the top ten but is pushed out of the top 20 now. In 2007, Korea rose to an all-time high of 11th place. Since then its rank continued to slide and hit 24th place in 2011. Korea seemed to rebound by jumping to 19th place in 2012 but fell to 25th place in 2013. In 2014, Korea hit 26th place, a 10 year low.   

By sectors, in the efficiency enhancement sector, Korea dropped to 26th place this year from 25th place last year.  The nation dwindled to 19th place by one notch from 18th place in the basic factor sector which assesses macroeconomy and infrastructure. In terms of corporate innovation and maturity, Korea stood at 22nd place as last year.

 

If dividing these three sectors into 12 sub-sectors, Korea’s macroeconomic environment will rise to 3rd place from 5th place, showing the most excellent competitiveness. Among detailed items, Korea shared the top spot in inflation rankings with the 0.7% growth of consumer prices. Its national savings rate (14th to 8th) and fiscal balance (19th to 18th) among others were evaluated high and good.  

But the Korean economy’s chronic problems such as the labor market and financial market stayed low. In terms of the efficiency of the labor market, Korea stood at the 83rd spot. But this year, Korea rose by six notches to rank 77th. In particular, Korea placed 135th near the bottom in terms of labor-management cooperation, a detailed item and 113rd in employment and dismissal practices and 90th in female economic activity rates.  

Korea jumped by seven notches to stand 80th in the maturity of the financial market. Last year, Uganda beat Korea in this category. Korea rose in ease of loan use (119th to 92nd) and the soundness of banks (113rd to 102nd) but still ranked low. This year, Uganda topped Korea in the soundness of financial markets by claiming the 77th spot.

Besides, Korea slid to 20th place from 19th place in corporate innovation and slipped to the 25th spot from the 23rd spot in higher education and job training. By nation, Switzerland ruled as the number one country as last year. Singapore and the US kept their positions as the second and third rankers from last year. Among Asian countries, Japan followed Singapore by picking up the eighth spot. Hong Kong came in ninth and China ranked 28th, down two notches from Korea.   

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