Luxembourg is ahead of Switzerland and the UK as the most attractive destination for international jobseekers, said in a study published at the end of July.

The grand duchy also has the second most resilient post-pandemic labour market, below Denmark but just ahead of the UK, based on vacancies published on the job portal.

No brain drain in Luxembourg

While most European countries are experiencing a higher volume of outward than inward job searches, this is not the case for Luxembourg. The grand duchy’s net interest score remains largely positive and higher than those of Switzerland and the UK, which are also experiencing brain gain phenomenon. Germany and Ireland complete the top 5.  “The UK continues to rank highly despite the post-Brexit decline in interest in British jobs from EU-based candidates,” the report states.

"Luxembourg relies heavily on international jobseekers: on Indeed's Luxembourg site, one of the smallest in Europe, 74% of all searches in 2021 came from jobseekers outside the country," the paper says. For example, for international searches conducted from France, Luxembourg accounts for 9.7% of searches, in third place behind the Netherlands (22%) and the US (10.4%). “At the same time, just 32% of searches conducted by jobseekers located in Luxembourg were outgoing.”

Remuneration and teleworking, catalysts

To explain this attractiveness, the authors of the study put forward several factors, starting with the rebound in cross-border mobility after the pandemic. Not surprisingly, job seekers are targeting well-paid jobs mainly in management, business, finance and professional services.

“European jobseekers are increasingly looking for work outside their home countries, both within and outside Europe. Cross-border searches by European jobseekers are still 10% under their 2017-19 average, but they are up substantially from the pandemic low of 32% below that level,” states the report.

Teleworking is also fuelling this international demand, with a marked growth in both supply and demand for these positions. However, the phenomenon is particularly noticeable in the major labour markets of France, Germany and the UK.

It also highlights a key challenge for employers: retaining talent in markets exposed to brain drain. "Looking for a job abroad has never been easier. This means that employers are facing competition for talent not only within their own country, but also from employers in other countries."

But employers are also responding to this demand. According to the survey, as many as 74% of UK businesses, 53% of French businesses and 51% of German businesses will “definitely” or “probably” hire foreign workers in 2022.

However, there are still plenty of challenges involved in hiring from abroad. The survey says, for example, that of the businesses that stated they will definitely or probably hire foreign workers in 2022, 33% cited insufficient language skills as a challenge. “For 28%, the lack of required qualifications or certifications was a problem, while 27% cited insufficient knowledge of the local market. The time or cost of legal procedures required to hire foreigners were issues for 22% of businesses.”

Ukrainian impact

There has been an increase in jobseekers in Poland using the Ukrainian language version of the Indeed site, the report says. And while the authors say they cannot know if these people are recent refugees or Ukrainian nationals who were already living in Poland, “the data suggest urgent, open-ended job search by people on the move.” The authors say that the implications are important. “Anywhere in Europe, employers interested in hiring Ukrainian refugees should be open to candidates with a wide range of skills and backgrounds.”

The Indeed Hiring Lab report is based on data contained in 800 million cross-border job searches conducted between January 2019 and April 2022 and more than 100 million job listings published on its portal.