According to the survey, which was repeated in 2023 after 2018 and 2020, the most popular destinations globally for jobseekers are Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany, while the most popular cities are Amsterdam, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and New York, alongside London. Romania ranked 89th as a destination, up from 92nd in 2018 and down from 78th in 2020.
While 22% of Romanians were actively looking for work abroad in 2018, their number fell to 13% three years ago and to only 8% by last year, which is much lower than the global average of 23% in 2023. Simultaneously, in line with international trends, the number of Romanians who would take a job abroad remotely, as a distant way of working, has increased significantly, to 74% in 2023 from 61% in 2020. That is higher than the globally average of 66%, which was up from 57% three years ago.
„Latest changes in the economic and social landscape have led to a reassessment of Romanians' emigration plans, with multiple contributing factors including improving quality of life, remote work opportunities, social security concerns, or the desire to be closer to family and friends. Additionally, professionals in fields such as IT, engineering, or healthcare choose to remain in the country, considering the balancing of salary differences at the European level, employment opportunities and a comparable standard of living. It is particularly noteworthy that currently only 9% of young people and 7% of university graduates are considering emigration, compared to a global average of 24% and 32%, respectively," explains Ana Vișian, Marketing Manager bestjobs, The Network's partner in Romania.
The survey found that financial and economic reasons were mentioned as the main drivers for Romanians to consider working abroad. 85% of Romanians (64% globally) listed this as the top reason. Another factor in favor of moving was a better quality of life, which is why 77% of Romanians (55% globally) would go abroad to work. A much higher proportion (59%) of Romanians than the international average (35%) cited better social welfare and health care systems as reasons for moving to abroad to work.
„In general, we can state that when people are looking for work abroad, they make their decision not based on a country's image but based on the work opportunities available, the reccomendations of their acquaintances and their knowledge of languages,” said Adam Kotsis, Partner and Senior Director at BCG. „Younger people and people from countries with fast-growing populations are the most mobile. And English-speaking geographies with strong economies lead the list of top destinations,” he added.
In Romania, 25% of those working in design, art, creative professions and architecture would like to work abroad, followed by manual workers (18%) and business management professionals (17%). Romanians would prefer working in Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain as the top three target destinations to work abroad, but their top 10 also include Italy, the United States, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland. In line with the global trend, about 30% of Romanians would work abroad long-term, meaning an indefinite period of time.
The researchers were also interested in finding out why those who opted to remain in their home countries decided to do so. Both the Romanian (53%) and global respondents (54%) cited as the top reason that they would not be able to take their family members or partners with them. Both the global respondents and Romanians (33% both) referred to their strong ties to their home country for not leaving. In addition, 31% of Romanians (16% globally) said that the difficulty of buying real estate abroad was a reason for staying.
About the Survey
BCG, The Network (together with its affiliate organizations), and The Stepstone Group conducted this anonymous, online survey from October through December 2023. All told, 150,735 people in 188 countries participated.
The survey elicited workers' attitudes on various topics, including their willingness to move abroad for work, the countries they would most like to work in, their reasons for choosing those countries, and their expectations of their future employers in a new country. The data gathered in the survey (including a wide range of information on participants' demographic and professional backgrounds) made it possible to analyze workers' attitudes on the basis of multiple parameters.
BCG also conducted follow-up interviews with select study participants around the world—many of whom were interviewed before and have been followed for several years.
