According to a survey, Germany ranks fifth among the most popular work locations. Employees who work in this country often stay in the country. The main criterion is working conditions.
According to an international survey, Germany remains an attractive place for foreign workers. In the ranking of the most popular work locations, the Federal Republic takes fifth place, making it the first non-English-speaking country behind Australia, the USA, Canada and Great Britain. This is shown by a survey of 150,000 employees from 188 countries published today.
Another finding of the study by the management consultancy Boston Consulting Group, the job exchange Stepstone and its umbrella organization The Network: Employees living in Germany are generally not drawn to travel far away. The participants were surveyed from October to December last year.
Germans prefer Switzerland and Austria
On an international average, almost a quarter of those surveyed were actively looking for a job abroad, and over 60 percent would generally be willing to move to another country, according to the study. In a comparison over several years, the Federal Republic has apparently lost some of its appeal: in 2018, Germany was still in second place.
According to the survey, however, employees in Germany are comparatively sedentary: only seven percent of the 14,000 people surveyed in this country were looking for a job abroad – including both locals and immigrants. Switzerland and Austria were named as preferred destinations. This is also a rather low rate compared to Italy, Great Britain or the USA, where more than twice as many people declared that they wanted to work abroad.
The willingness to migrate for work is highest in several African countries, the researchers report. Ghana is at the top with 74 percent. In India it was 54 percent and in Turkey 35 percent. According to the survey, this also applies to highly qualified people: the answers from academics in the respective countries were evaluated separately, whose willingness to move abroad differs only slightly from employees without a degree.
Faster Work permit required
Meanwhile, the most popular city in the world to work in is London – ahead of Amsterdam and Dubai. Berlin is also one of the top places in sixth place, according to the study authors. For the vast majority of those surveyed, the decisive criterion when moving abroad is not the country or a specific metropolis, but rather the attractiveness of the job offer.
In the competition for workers from abroad, companies that offer employees coming from abroad attractive working conditions and organizational support would win, said BCG consultant Jens Baier. This is also why Germany has apparently slipped a little in the ranking. Baier cited applying for work permits as an example. “Unfortunately, this is often still very difficult in Germany.”
In September, for example, the German Association of Cities and Municipalities (DStGB) called for asylum seekers to be given a work permit relatively soon after their arrival if they have a chance of being recognized. Because work can make a significant contribution to integration and the need is there. Representatives of the traffic light coalition also spoke out in favor of refugees having quicker and easier access to the job market in the future.