29th September 2016

WEF Global Competitiveness Index: Czech Republic remains 31st most competitive economy, should improve skills of future workforce

The Czech Republic ranks 31st in the Global Competitiveness Report 2016–2017 ranking, the same result as in the 2015-2016 ranking (although the country's scores were 4.72 and 4.69 in 2016 and 2015, respectively). The report assesses the competitiveness landscape of 138 economies, providing insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity. 

The Czech Republic is in a group of 37 Innovation-driven economies (the final stage of economic development) and its GDP amounts to 0.29% of world GDP (PPP). 

The country rankings in individual categories:
1. Basic requirements (31st place)
- Institutions (54th place)
- Infrastructure (43rd place)
- Macroeconomic environment environment (19th place)
- Health and primary education (25th place)
On the one hand, Diversion of public funds and Low efficiency of legal framework in settling disputes obtained relatively low scores. The country fared relatively well in categories Quality of railroad infrastructure, or Country credit rating, for example.

2. Efficiency enhancers (27th place)
- Higher education & training (27th place)
- Goods market efficiency (36th place)
- Labor market efficiency (44th place)
- Financial market development (27th place)
- Technological readiness (29th place)
- Market size (46th place)
Quality of management schools, Total tax rate % of profits, No. of procedures to start a business, Effect of taxation on incentives to work, Country capacity to attract talent were among categories where the country obtained relatively low scores. The country fared relatively well in categories such as Internet access in schools, Intensity of local competition, Flexibility of wage determination, or Soundness of banks, for example.

3. Innovation & sophistication factors (35th place)
- Business sophistication (32nd place)
- Innovation (37th place)
Government procurement of tech. advanced products and Availability of scientists and engineers are among problematic issues. The country fared relatively well in categories such as Local supplier quality, or Capacity for innovation, for example.

The country came in at 16 in the category Skills of the current workforce, but at 22 for Skills of the future workforce (top performers being Finland, the Netherlands and Iceland).  As for Business dynamism & innovation capacity, the Czech Republic ranks 41st (top performers being the USA, Sweden and Norway).

According to the 2016 Executive Opinion Survey (106 respondents), five most problematic factors for doing business in the country are inefficient government bureaucracy, tax regulations, corruption, policy instability and tax rates.

Read details in the country report (p. 162 of the document).

Click here for details in Czech (an article and an interview on Radio Zet).

WEF: What doesn’t competitiveness tell us?

Generally, the world is getting better and better at measuring things, but nonetheless there are always black-spots in any benchmarking exercise. Despite our best efforts, we still haven’t found a fail-safe way of including a country’s environmental record into its competitiveness score. Nor do we attempt to measure whether, or to what degree, competitiveness makes people happy, although there are others that do attempt to measure this. Does a country that is competitive mean it is best able to face the future? Again, the answer is yes and no: some countries are investing for the onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in ways that we have not yet found a reliable way of measuring. This last area is a focus of considerable work here these days. (Source: WEF)

 

Members of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic