The latest trends of the global labour market: Highlights of a large-scale survey

From the employer standpoint, the globalization of labour markets inevitably leads to the need to recruit internationally. In the past few years people have become more willing to relocate for their jobs and companies are more interested in hiring international staff than ever before. However, what remains unclear is how to find the right candidates and match them with the right organizations?

Mike Booker, managing director of The Network – The Global Online Recruitment Company – argues that a lack of knowledge with regard to the global labour market is the major obstacle in international recruitment. Global employers continue struggling with ‘where to find the talent and how to reach or move them internationally.’  Aiming to answer such questions, The Network in cooperation with the Dutch research organization Intelligence Group collected three waves of data, in 2006, 2009 and 2011, with the latter being the biggest yet and asking 162,495 jobseekers across 66 countries for their views on geographic mobility. The results from these repeated surveys led the researchers to derive some general global labour market trends.

First, the survey results indicate that more people are willing to work abroad. The data from 2011 show that more than two-thirds of jobseekers are willing to work abroad, which represents a 7% increase compared to 2006. Although the desire to move abroad appears wide-spread, there are considerable differences between countries, as well as differences between the desire to move abroad and actual physical relocation. The top five workforces in terms of likelihood to relocate abroad are from Portugal (97%), Luxemburg (94%), Nigeria (94%), Qatar (91%) and Tunisia (91%). In contrast, more ‘domestic’ employees come from Italy (53%), China (52%), Lithuania (52%), Slovenia (52%) and the US (48%).

Second, the findings reveal that now workers are willing to stay for less time abroad. The data indicate that compared to 2009, the amount of people willing to relocate to another country for more than five years has decreased by 20%. This trend may indicate that people see working abroad as a temporary solution for an unfavorable situation in their home countries, with the idea of repatriating as soon as things start improving back home. Nevertheless, the majority of jobseekers indicated a preference for a relatively long relocation, including from 3 to 5 years (32%) and over five years (37%).

Third, it was found that the main reason to work abroad is starting an international career. Apart from starting an international career, which was chosen by half of the respondents, one third of them stated their main reason as a desire to work in a specific country, followed by moving abroad to join family and loved ones (10%), and strong preference for some international organizations (9%). Although the reasons listed above are the four most frequently cited, there are differences in their importance across countries and age groups. For instance, Middle Eastern nationals are most likely to move abroad for family reasons, whereas starting an international career is the strongest motivator for employees in their twenties. Considering these differences may be an important part of the recruitment process, which should be targeted at a specific population.

Fourth, switching from more general reasons to relocate abroad to more specific reasons of choosing an international employer, salary and good career opportunities remain the most influential factors. However, it should be noted that, compared to 2009, the salary factor has slightly lost in importance relative to career opportunities, which suggests that career prospects are rapidly becoming as important as salary. Given the tough economic times, this notion may be quite positive for employers, as it implies the possibility for attracting candidates with promising career paths rather than just salary.

Fifth, the survey shows that international workers prefer fixed-term contracts. More specifically, jobseekers expressed a strong preference for fixed-term contracts (68%) and temporary contracts over one year (47%). This data links to the finding of a decreased duration of international work experiences that, once again, indicates the perception of expatriation as a temporary move, rather than a more permanent migration. Overall, only 15% of respondents would prefer a flexible contract.

Finally, a sixth trend states that international job websites have become the most frequently used source for job search. It is perhaps not surprising that online job search possibilities in general, such as job websites, search engines or company websites dominate the methods of job search. It could even be argued that the advancement of modern technologies, which makes international job search easily accessible, is one of the reasons for why Generations X and Y are more geographically mobile.