B.COM Unit – 4 ( CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ( CSR ).pptx
Sourajit Aiyer - Financial Express - Bangladesh makes it to the shortlist - Aug 2014
1. Most relevant countries to work in between 2015-2019
Bangladesh makes it to the shortlist
In today's age of coupling between economies, cross-border business and multiculturalist societies, the topics of
employment opportunities and mobility are discussed a lot. This personal experiment of mine seeks to identify
countries which are most relevant to work in, in terms of opportunities for both local and foreign workers. The
objective is not to identify the "Best" countries to work in, rather it is to identify the "Relevant" countries to work
in.
There are umpteen lists of "Best Countries to Work In", mostly dominated by the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) nations. In reality, economic (and so, employment) opportunities in most
OECD countries will remain dry due to their economic downturn, high rates of unemployment, growing
prominence of "right-wing" parties who do not really favour foreign workers, and paucity in the learning
experience for workers since most functions are outsourced to developing countries.
On the contrary, one might identify relevant countries in terms of their economic opportunities, since the
ensuing opportunities for workforce is a derivative of that. They may not be the "Best" countries to work in due
to inadequate infrastructure, health and safety issues. However, they would be "Relevant" in terms of
opportunities and so, demand.
METHODOLOGY: This experiment is done using IMF's (International Monetary Fund) projected statistics of 190
nations. Seven parameters are used for screening and equal-weight scores assigned for each parameter (except
for deviations in two cases). These parameters are restricted to quantitative data, with only one qualitative
parameter:
(1) Growth and size of the economy - CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of projected GDP (gross domestic
product) in US$ terms from 2015 to 2019 to be above a threshold of 2.0 per cent, with the actual GDP to reach
a minimum US$50 million by 2019. The rationale is that growing economies will create demand for workforce,
plus the absolute size of the GDP signifies a larger critical mass in terms of the employment opportunities.
Hence, countries with their 2019 GDP over US$1.0 billion get an extra score (one of the two deviations from the
equal-weight scoring). US$ terms makes it comparable for foreigners;
(2) Growth in per-capita basis - This is to negate the impact of population growth on the countries' economic
story. Per-capita income is a better indicator of what the person's wallet actually earns, though it is still
susceptible to skewness in income distribution;
(3) Growth of the economy's actual output - Since IMF's GDP data in US$ terms (used in #1) is in current
prices, the CAGR of GDP in constant prices is taken to test the country's 'actual' economic output. This is set to
above a threshold of 2.5 per cent for screening only;
(4) Investments as a per cent of GDP - This indicates the creation of actual productive assets in the country to
support its growth. Countries with an average Investment to GDP of over 15 per cent from 2015-2019 are
taken. Plus, countries with a ratio of over 25 per cent receive an extra score (this is an important parameter in
this experiment and hence, the second of the two deviations from the equal-weight scoring). Another score is
given if the ratio in 2019 is higher than that in 2015, as that augurs well for its future;
(5) Average inflation and its growth - This signifies the "real-income" for workers. It is pointless to have high
per-capita growth with high inflation since then the real income is actually depressed. Countries with an average
inflation of less than 8.0 per cent from 2015-2019 are taken. Another score is given if this is lower in 2019 than
in 2015;
(6) Average unemployment and its growth - Countries with high unemployment rates do not bode well from net
employment perspective, irrespective of their economic growth. Countries with average unemployment rate of
less than 7.0 per cent from 2015-2019 are taken. Another score is given if this is lower in 2019 than in 2015;
(7) Safety factor - This is really to weed out countries with internal civil wars/strife which makes normal living
impossible. Most developed countries receive a score of 2 while developing countries who are not in the cusp of
an all-out internal civil strife receive 1.
RESULTS: Ranking for the Top-30 countries is based on the final scores across the seven parameters. If two or
more countries have the same score, their ranking is based on their GDP CAGR from 2015-2019. This
experiment gives interesting findings, though it is subject to the assumptions made in the methodology.
Publish : 25 Aug, 2014 00:00:00
Sourajit Aiyer
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