News | The global workforce

Travelling talent

Skilled workers are nowadays eager to work abroad

WHETHER equipped with a master’s degree in business or another qualification sought after by employers, today’s workers, especially younger ones, are remarkably keen to have a spell working outside their home countries. An online survey of more than 200,000 people in 189 countries, published this week by the Boston Consulting Group, a management consultant, and The Network, a recruitment agency, found that almost two-thirds of respondents would contemplate working abroad—and that one in five already had. The sample is somewhat skewed: most respondents were aged 20-50, and most had further- or higher-education qualifications. But such workers are the talent that companies—and countries—most need to attract.