The pandemic has had a major impact on people’s attitudes toward work abroad : it reduced their interest generally, inclining them toward countries that have done the best job of containing the coronavirus.
A new study by the Boston Consulting Group and The Network reveals that the US has lost its status as the place foreigners would most like to work that it has had over the past decade (and probably longer). It has fallen to second in the rankings, behind Canada and Australia. This year’s survey, which included almost 209,000 participants in 190 countries, also reveals that only about 50% of people are in fact willing to move to another country for work.
Almost all of the countries that moved up in the top ten rankings – Canada, Australia and Japan – have a relatively low incidence of COVID-19 cases. With Singapore and New Zealand, two new countries appear on the list for the first time that have won praise for their good job of pandemic management and leadership.
On the European side, high reported infection rates are very likely the reason why Italy, France, and Spain have fallen in the rankings. While all three were on list of the top ten work destinations in 2014 and 2018, only France remained on the list today in 2020. Despite the relatively good management of the first COVID-19 wave, Germany’s image seems to have been tarnished by the European Union’s overall number of coronavirus cases. However, the country remains the top work destination in Europe.
This chart shows the percentage of respondents who would move to each country for work.
