The most attractive markets for staffing are Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Malaysia, according to a report released Wednesday by Staffing Industry Analysts. The report covered staffing markets in 60 countries around the world.

All these markets display varying degrees of strong growth prospects and have individual advantages that staffing firms wishing to expand internationally may find relevant to their particular business case.

Malaysia was the most attractive staffing market in Asia for the third consecutive year. The next most-attractive staffing markets in Asia were China and Japan.

Canada ranked as the most attractive staffing market in the Americas followed by the US and Argentina.

The least attractive markets included in the analysis were Nigeria and Algeria, due in part to relatively small size, unfavourable business environment and high level of political instability. While countries with lower rankings may present additional challenges, they should not be considered “unattractive” as they are generally among the more immature markets that, by nature, offer the most long-term growth potential.

“We have highlighted a number of markets that stand out as attractive targets for future expansion,” said David Papapostolou, senior research analyst at SIA. “This year, we have also segmented the results of our analysis by region, in order to offer our customers the option of easily comparing staffing markets that are geographically close.”

Corporate members of Staffing Industry Analysts can download the full report.