Brexit vote sparks surge in overseas job searches
The number of Brits searching for a career abroad has jumped in the months after the EU referendum, according to an analysis of online job adverts.
Recruiters Indeed found searches for jobs outside the UK had jumped 20 per cent since the 23 June vote, with Ireland, Australia and Canada the top prospective destinations.
Analysts at the website also found appetite for leaving the UK was closely tied to the swings in the value of the pound, with lurches downwards prompting many to start looking at jobs which pay in other currencies.
Sterling has fallen by more than 17 per cent against the dollar since the night of the referendum, where it touched $1.50. A flash crash last week and ongoing speculation about a hard Brexit has sent the pound down to $1.24.
“The UK economy has proved resilient in the first few months since the poll, with consumer confidence remaining high and the number of people in work barely changing,” said Mariano Mamertino, economist at Indeed.
“But a deterioration in the hiring appetite of employers – coupled with increasing talk of a hard Brexit – and a returning uncertainty over what that might mean, is prompting many Britons who had been thinking of working overseas to job hunt in earnest.”
Figures out last week from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) showed hiring intentions from employers were holding up in the wake of the EU referendum in every region of the country except London. In the capital, job prospects seemed to be on the slide, the REC found. The organisation suggested this was due to London’s closer exposure to the EU economy.
On average, Indeed said there were seven per cent more job searches for roles inside the EU than before the vote, although there was variation in the countries Brits were aiming for. Roles in Germany secured nine per cent more traffic while searches for jobs in France actually dropped by six per cent.