Canada Has Three of the Top 10 Lowest Risk Cities in the World to Recruit, Employ and Redeploy Business Talent, According to Aon Hewitt

People Risk Index helps organizations assess talent management risks to improve success of business operations

TORONTO, March 25, 2013 /CNW/ - Three Canadian cities -Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver - are among the 10 lowest risk cities in the world for recruiting, employing and relocating employees, according to rankings released today by Aon Hewitt, the global human resources business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON).

Aon Hewitt's 2013 People Risk Index measures the risks that organizations face with recruitment, employment and relocation in 138 cities worldwide by analyzing factors as demographics, access to education, talent development, employment practices and government regulations. The Index found New York, Singapore, Toronto, London and Montreal retained their ranks as the top five lowest-risk cities in the world. Vancouver is tied for tenth with Boston and Chicago.

"Canada's three largest cities are clearly world-class locations for employers," said Scott Bunker, Talent, Performance and Rewards Practice Leader, Aon Hewitt Canada. "They provide large, well-educated, experienced talent pools working in an environment of stable employment practices. In the latest Index, Montreal's ranking was unchanged, while Toronto and Vancouver slipped slightly as a result of improvements by Singapore. Overall, Canada scores well for Government Support, Education System and Talent Development and Employment Practices. These strengths are somewhat offset by the risks of working age population size, aging population and availability of future workforce relative to New York and Singapore."

For the second year, New York retained its title as the world's lowest-risk city. Its demographic risk is the second lowest due to its large working-age population and high workforce productivity.

Conversely, Luanda, Angola; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Sana'a, Yemen; and Damascus, Syria represent the highest risk locations of the 138 cities for employers.

"The way businesses now recognize and manage people risk has changed significantly over the last few years," said Richard Payne, who was responsible for preparing the worldwide Index and is Talent and Rewards practice leader for Aon Hewitt in Asia Pacific. "Driven by a need to do more with less, business leaders have to be more innovative around how they invest; this has had an impact on how they think about talent sourcing and work force planning. Aon Hewitt's People Risk Index enables businesses to make informed decisions - to balance operational requirements with people risks."

The 10 Lowest-Risk Cities

The Aon Hewitt 2013 People Risk Index showed minimal differences from the 2012 rankings among the top five cities. Singapore remains the only city outside of Europe and North America that is ranked among the top five, while Hong Kong is among those ranked as the 10 lowest risk cities. Of note, two European cities moved up the ranks to be among the top 10 in 2013 - Copenhagen and Zurich. This can be attributed to the many pro-business employment policies in these two cities, their open door policy towards talent and continued focus on developing and improving the education and talent development infrastructures. Furthermore, the increased risk in the euro zone cities exacerbated by the ongoing debt crisis has reduced the relative risk in European cities outside of the euro zone.

"Pro-business employment policies have a significant impact on people risk," Payne added. "Where government policies support a more flexible approach to talent immigration, employment practices and the provision of social welfare, these cities are able to attract and retain a talent supply critical for businesses."

Trends from the Highest-Risk Cities

The top 10 highest-risk cities to employers were: Luanda, Angola; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Lagos, Nigeria; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Tripoli, Libya; Karachi, Pakistan; Baghdad, Iraq; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Sana'a, Yemen; and Damascus, Syria.

The lack of a stable and transparent government continues to be an obstacle to implement and enforce business-friendly employment practices in these cities. Furthermore, the lack of government investment in developing and improving the education and talent development infrastructure increases an employer's risk in finding skilled talent, as the current infrastructure is unable to support employers' workforce demands.

"There is a silver lining for these high-risk cities - they will continue to experience population growth in the next decade which will increase the size of the labor pool," said Payne. "However, if the education and talent development infrastructure do not improve, these cities will face a surplus of low skilled workers and a shortage of highly educated professional talent."

Despite the challenging business and people environment, organizations are still expressing interest in these high-risk locations due to the abundant natural resources and high economic growth potential. "Africa presents many opportunities if employers are able to identify and mitigate the people risk in these cities effectively." Payne added.

To find out more about the 2013 People Risk Index, and to obtain a copy of the 2013 People Risk Index Ratings, please visit http://www.aonpeoplerisk.com

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About Aon Hewitt's People Risk Index

The results of Aon Hewitt's People Risk Index are based on in-depth research conducted over a six-month period by the Aon Hewitt's Regional Talent & Rewards Analytics Center in Singapore. Data from more than 100 statistical sources provide the quantitative basis for the ratings, which were augmented by the assessment of Aon Hewitt's local and regional human resources experts from around the world.

The 138 cities were selected based on population size, rate of population growth, level of business investment and geographic spread among the cities covered.

Aon Hewitt's People Risk Index assigned ratings relative to risk for 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad areas: Demographics; Education; Government Support; Talent Development; and Employment Practices. Each of the 30 factors has a scale from 1 (minimal risk) to 10 (extreme risk). Employment Practices area has 10 factors that are weighted by 50%. Thus, the overall ratings are from 25 to 250, where 25 is minimal or no risk and 250 is extreme risk.

About Aon Hewitt
Aon Hewitt is the global leader in human resources solutions. The company partners with organizations to solve their most complex benefits, talent and related financial challenges, and improve business performance. Aon Hewitt designs, implements, communicates, and administers a wide range of human capital, retirement, investment management, health care, compensation and talent management strategies. With more than 29,000 professionals in 90 countries, Aon Hewitt makes the world a better place to work for clients and their employees. For more information on Aon Hewitt, please visit www.aonhewitt.com.

About Aon
Aon plc NYSE:AON is the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Through its more than 62,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovative and effective risk and people solutions and through industry-leading global resources and technical expertise. Aon has been named repeatedly as the world's best broker, best insurance intermediary, reinsurance intermediary, captives manager and best employee benefits consulting firm by multiple industry sources. Visit www.aon.com for more information on Aon and www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.

Note to the Editors
Please refer to the tables contained in the document below.

•  Table 1: 10 Lowest Risk & 10 Highest Risk Cities Globally.
•  Table 2: People Risk Rankings by Area of Risk.
•   Aon Hewitt 2013 People Risk® Index; 2013 rankings for 138 cities.

Table 1:  10 Lowest Risk & 10 Highest Risk Cities Globally

a) 10 Lowest Risk Cities

Ranking^1	City	Rating^2
1	New York	67
2	Singapore	70
3	Toronto	72
4	London	73
4	Montreal	73
6	Los Angeles	74
7	Copenhagen	76
7	Hong Kong	76
9	Zurich	77
10	Boston	78
10	Chicago	78
10	Vancouver	78

b) 10 Highest Risk Cities

Ranking^1	City	Rating^2
129	Lagos	179
130	Dhaka	180
130	Tripoli	180
132	Karachi	181
133	Baghdad	186
133	Luanda	186
135	Port Moresby	190
136	Addis Ababa	191
137	Sana'a	198
138	Damascus	204

______________________________________

^1	Out of 138 cities worldwide in People Risk Index 2013
^2	Based on a rating of 30 factors across 5 categories of risk

Table 2: People Risk Rankings by Area of Risk

Aon Hewitt's People Risk Index assigned ratings relative to risk for 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad areas: Demographics; Education; Government Support; Talent Development; and Employment Practices.

Each of the 30 factors has a scale from 1 (minimal risk) to 10 (extreme risk). Employment Practices area has 10 factors that are weighted by 50%. Thus, the overall ratings are from 25 to 250, where 25 is minimal or no risk and 250 is extreme risk.

Ranking 2013	City	Rating 2013	Demographics	Government Support	Education System	Talent Development	Employment Practices
1	New York	67	16	17	9	9	16
2	Singapore	70	21	12	12	9	16
3	Toronto	72	24	14	7	14	13
4	London	73	22	18	10	9	14
4	Montreal	73	26	14	7	12	14
6	Los Angeles	74	19	18	11	10	16
7	Copenhagen	76	29	12	10	11	14
7	Hong Kong	76	19	15	16	10	16
9	Zurich	77	30	12	11	10	14
10	Boston	78	23	18	9	11	17
10	Chicago	78	20	19	11	12	16
10	Vancouver	78	27	14	7	15	15

Ranking 2013	City	Rating 2013	Demographics	Government Support	Education System	Talent Development	Employment Practices
129	Lagos	179	25	38	45	36	35
130	Dhaka	180	24	32	47	43	34
130	Tripoli	180	27	43	32	39	39
132	Karachi	181	26	42	42	37	34
133	Baghdad	186	23	40	41	42	40
133	Luanda	186	23	40	46	40	37
135	Port Moresby	190	26	40	50	40	34
136	Addis Ababa	191	29	39	49	38	36
137	Sana'a	198	31	44	41	44	38
138	Damascus	204	32	50	39	43	40

Aon Hewitt 2013 People Risk® Index

For comparisons to the 2012 People Risk Index, please visit www.aonpeoplerisk.com.

Country	City	Rank	Overall Rating (25 - 250)		Country	City	Rank	Overall Rating (25 - 250)
United States	New York	1	67		France	Paris	36	91
Singapore	Singapore	2	70		United Kingdom	Manchester	37	92
Canada	Toronto	3	72		Germany	Frankfurt	37	92
United Kingdom	London	4	73		Austria	Vienna	37	92
Canada	Montreal	4	73		New Zealand	Auckland	40	93
United States	Los Angeles	6	74		Germany	Berlin	40	93
Denmark	Copenhagen	7	76		United States	Detroit	42	94
Hong Kong	Hong Kong	7	76		Japan	Tokyo	43	95
Switzerland	Zurich	9	77		Japan	Osaka	44	100
United States	Boston	10	78		Ireland	Dublin	45	102
United States	Chicago	10	78		Israel	Tel Aviv	45	102
Canada	Vancouver	10	78		South Korea	Seoul	47	106
United States	San Diego	13	80		Spain	Madrid	48	107
United States	San Francisco	13	80		Spain	Barcelona	49	108
Sweden	Stockholm	15	81		Oman	Muscat	50	111
Netherlands	Amsterdam	16	82		Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	51	114
United States	Dallas	16	82		Chile	Santiago	52	115
Norway	Oslo	16	82		Saudi Arabia	Riyadh	53	116
United Arab Emirates	Dubai	19	83		Czech	Prague	54	117
United States	Houston	19	83		China	Beijing	55	118
Australia	Melbourne	21	84		China	Shanghai	56	120
United States	Miami	21	84		Bahrain	Manama	57	123
United States	Philadelphia	21	84		Poland	Warsaw	58	124
United States	Seattle	21	84		Italy	Milan	59	127
United States	Atlanta	25	85		China	Hangzhou	60	128
United States	Washington DC	25	85		Portugal	Lisbon	60	128
Australia	Sydney	27	86		China	Guangzhou	62	129
Belgium	Brussels	27	86		Poland	Krakow	62	129
United States	Denver	27	86		Italy	Rome	64	130
United States	Phoenix	27	86		Brazil	Sao Paulo	65	131
Qatar	Doha	31	87		South Africa	Johannesburg	66	133
United States	Minneapolis	32	88		Hungary	Budapest	67	135
Australia	Perth	33	89		Brazil	Rio de Janeiro	67	135
Finland	Helsinki	34	90		China	Shenzhen	67	135
Taiwan	Taipei	34	90		China	Tianjin	70	138
India	Mumbai	71	139		India	Kolkata	104	154
Mexico	Mexico City	72	140		Tunisia	Tunis	106	156
China	Nanjing	72	140		China	Chongqing	106	156
Philippines	Manila	74	141		Romania	Bucharest	108	157
China	Wuhan	74	141		Morocco	Rabat	108	157
India	Bangalore	76	142		Greece	Athens	110	158
Thailand	Bangkok	76	142		Bulgaria	Sofia	110	158
Russia	Moscow	78	143		Peru	Lima	112	161
China	Xiamen	78	143		India	Jaipur	113	162
China	Dalian	80	144		Sri Lanka	Colombo	114	163
India	Delhi	80	144		Viet Nam	Hanoi	114	163
China	Suzhou	80	144		Namibia	Windhoek	114	163
Panama	Panama City	83	145		Egypt	Cairo	117	164
China	Shenyang	83	145		Kenya	Nairobi	118	166
Jordan	Amman	83	145		Algeria	Algiers	119	167
Indonesia	Jakarta	86	146		Kazakhstan	Almaty	119	167
China	Wuxi	86	146		Serbia	Belgrade	119	167
China	Chengdu	88	147		Ghana	Accra	122	168
India	Chennai	88	147		Ukraine	Kiev	123	169
Colombia	Bogota	90	149		Mongolia	Ulaanbaatar	124	170
Philippines	Cebu	90	149		Iran	Tehran	125	173
China	Harbin	92	150		Zambia	Lusaka	126	175
Uruguay	Montevideo	92	150		Cambodia	Phnom Penh	127	176
India	Hyderabad	94	151		Venezuela	Caracas	128	177
India	Pune	94	151		Nigeria	Lagos	129	179
India	Ahmedabad	96	152		Bangladesh	Dhaka	130	180
China	Hefei	96	152		Libya	Tripoli	130	180
Turkey	Istanbul	96	152		Pakistan	Karachi	132	181
Russia	St. Petersburg	96	152		Iraq	Baghdad	133	186
China	Xian	96	152		Angola	Luanda	133	186
China	Changchun	101	153		Papua New Guinea	Port Moresby	135	190
China	Changsha	101	153		Ethiopia	Addis Ababa	136	191
Botswana	Gaborone	101	153		Yemen	Sana'a	137	198
Argentina	Buenos Aires	104	154		Syria	Damascus	138	204

  

 

SOURCE: AON Hewitt

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