Surprise, surprise: New survey reveals people in Europe want to work in Britain
Britain is the top destination for European job hunters hoping to launch a career abroad, an analysis of searches by recruitment firm, Indeed, has revealed, while those already here are the least likely in Europe to want to work in another EU country.
The research – out today – which looked at millions of jobs searches, showed that 37 per cent of all people looking to work in another part of Europe wanted to come to Britain, three times as many as the numbers who chose France, the second most popular country.
UK-based jobseekers were also more likely than any other in the EU15 – a group of the original 15, mainly western, members of the EU – to shun working overseas, with more than 98 per cent of all searches directed towards domestic positions.
Read more: HMRC will reveal EU migrant numbers before referendum
Even where Brits wanted to work overseas, only one in seven was trying to find a job in the EU.
“Europe is delivering the UK one-way traffic,” said Mariano Mamertino, an economist at Indeed. “It’s very clear that the average Briton is considerably less likely to want to work in Europe than the average European wants to work in Britain,” he added.
The strength of Britain’s jobs market could explain why it is such a popular spot to try and start a career. Official statistics out yesterday showed that unemployment across the Eurozone is currently 10.3 per cent, more than twice the rate in Britain.
Read more: London tops EU for technology jobs
In terms of raw numbers, the most searches for jobs in the UK came from outside the EU, with the US and India leading the pack, followed by Ireland, France and Australia.
A total of 275,000 people came to the UK for work-related reasons in the year to September 2015, the most recently available statistics, while 159,000 people left to work overseas.
Looking to the EU referendum, on 23 June, Mamertino warned that “any policy that restricts the mobility of the EU workforce could negatively affect many UK employers who have historically relied on a steady flow of international talent to fill open positions.