The US lost its number one spot to Switzerland in the WEF report on global competitiveness, partly because of ??particular concerns on the part of the business community about the government??s ability to maintain arms-length relationships with the private sector and in the perception that the government spends its resources wastefully?.
Barack Obama, the US president, has continued and deepened the government??s involvement in private industry that was started byGeorge W. Bush, his predecessor, as a response to the financial crisis, with bail-outs of the automotive and banking sectors.
The WEF stresses that the US remains a considerable competitive force at number two in the rankings with excellent universities and a flexible labour market.
The UK fell in the WEF study from 12th to 13th place. ??The country benefits from clear strengths such as the efficiency of its labour market, standing in contrast to the rigidity of many other European Union countries,? the report found.
"The drop in rank is largely attributable to a weakening of the assessment of the country??s financial market...rising concerns in the business sector about the soundness of banks on the back of several banking sector bankruptcies and bail-outs."
WEF rankings 2009-2010
1 Switzerland (2)*
2 US (1)
3 Singapore (5)
4 Sweden (4)
5 Denmark (3)
6 Finland (6)
7 Germany (7)
8 Japan (9)
9 Canada (10)
10 Netherlands (8)
11 Hong Kong (11)
12 Taiwan (17)
13 UK (12)
14 Norway (15)
15 Australia (18)
16 France (16)
17 Austria (14)
18 Belgium (19)
19 South Korea (13)
20 New Zealand (24)
* 2008-2009
