Interest in UK tech jobs has fallen whilst the rest of Europe has seen a surge, and US-based jobseekers are falling out of love with the UK tech scene as they increasingly look for work in mainland Europe. These are the findings of new data released by the global job site, Indeed UK.
Indeed’s analysis shows jobs searches in Britain’s tech sector fell by 3% between the first half of 2017 and the first half of 2019. Over the same period, searches for tech jobs in Belgium increased by 76%, with Portugal seeing a 45% rise and Sweden 42%. Of the 11 European countries studied, the UK was the only one to register a fall in searches for tech jobs.
“The slowdown in interest for UK tech jobs and the gains being made across Europe coincided with Brexit, suggesting the uncertainty about post-Brexit Britain could be eating into tech workers’ desire to work in the UK. For employers this means a squeeze for tech talent and potential challenges attracting workers. We know salary is the most important motivation but people also want to identify and connect with companies whose job opportunities will be the right next step in their career, and whose cultures will enable them to thrive,” said Bill Richards, UK Managing Director of the Indeed global job site.
Interest among American tech professionals in UK tech jobs has also declined over the past two years. The share of searches by US-based tech workers looking for roles in the UK fell to 13.6% from 17.1% in 2017.
Excluding the UK, the rest of Europe’s share of job searches originating in the US has risen from 8.6% in 2017 to 9.4% in 2019.
“Our data shows European tech hubs have access to a deep pool of high-skilled workers and as funding across the continent grows so do job opportunities in the tech sector. We’ve also seen how European tech workers are prepared to work elsewhere on the continent compared to their American counterparts, who are showing signs of wanting to stay in North America,” said Richards.
Indeed’s analysis for technology investment company Atomico’s State of European Tech Report 2019 also showed that interest from overseas workers outside the US has remained strong on the whole, with one in 10 clicks on UK tech jobs coming from abroad.
Clicks from non-EU countries accounted for 6% of the total clicks on those jobs, a slight increase since 2015. Much of that interest has come from India, which has a large pool of tech professionals. More than a fifth (20.9%) of all searches for UK jobs made by India-based jobseekers were for tech jobs.
