Improvements in “technological readiness” helped South Africa reverse a four-year decline and leapfrog seven positions to land back into the top 50, at position 49, in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) released on Wednesday.
The Global Competitiveness Index analyses the factors driving productivity and prosperity in 140 countries, representing 98.3% of world GDP. Much of South Africa’s progress up the ranks can be attributed to a 16-place jump in the indicator termed technological readiness, from position 66 to 50.
This pillar measures “the agility with which an economy adopts existing technologies to enhance the productivity of its industries, with specific emphasis on its capacity to fully leverage information and communication technologies in daily activities and production processes for increased efficiency and enabling innovation for competitiveness”.
The WEF’s Global Competitiveness Report 2015–2016 showed that South Africa’s ranking for efficiency in the labour market also improved, from 113 to 107, although there are are still areas of concern, particularly in key sub-indicators including: co-operation in labour-employer relations, where South Africa came in stone last at position 140; hiring and firing practices, not much better at 138; flexibility of wage determination, 137; and linkage between pay and productivity, 127.
