UK struggling to attract high-skilled foreign workers

High-wage foreigners are shunning the UK in favor of countries like France and the Netherlands, despite government efforts to attract skilled migrants to boost economic growth.

Of all the clicks on British job postings from workers abroad, only a fifth were on high-wage jobs, or postings offering the upper third of wages, according to data covering the first six months of the year from job-search website Indeed. Only Spain had a smaller proportion among 10 advanced economies analyzed.

Foreigners have a strong urge to work in the UK but they are not the kind of workers the government wants. The lowest-paid jobs attracted 40 percent of clicks from abroad, casting doubt over the Conservatives’ policies to discourage low-skill migration.

The relatively low level of interest from better qualified foreigners poses a challenge for the new Labour government’s ambition to cement Britain at the top of the Group of Seven growth league.

Migration is a top issue for voters and Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised to reduce the need for foreign labor by improving the training of British workers. But with some of the most productive sectors such as IT and engineering continuing to experience staff shortages, Labour is eager not to obstruct their ability to bring in talent from abroad.

“While there’s been a surge in foreign interest in UK roles, the country falls behind other Western nations in attracting highly skilled workers, which is at odds with the government’s current immigration policy,” said Pawel Adrjan, economic research director for EMEA and APAC at Indeed.

France and the Netherlands attracted the highest proportion of high-skill workers, with more than one in three clicks from abroad going to the best-paid jobs, the Indeed report showed.

A tightening of immigration rules since splitting from the European Union in 2021 may have made Britain less attractive for high-skilled migrants but it has done nothing to deter foreign workers overall. Interest in UK jobs on Indeed is 54 percent above levels seen before Brexit and the pandemic, with three time more work permits issued than in 2019.

Food preparation and retail were among the sectors seeing the strongest growth in overseas searches. UK jobs on Indeed were particularly popular with workers from countries like India, Pakistan, the US and the UAE.

But Britain may be losing its appeal for its domestic workers. A majority of UK employees said their lifestyle would improve if they moved to a different country, while half said working abroad would lift their incomes and offer more career opportunities.

Smaller economies tend to be more attractive to foreign workers than major countries, Indeed found. Luxembourg is a top destination, thanks to a multilingual environment, job opportunities in the financial sector and a high number of cross-border employees.

“As borders become less relevant for workers, businesses and states must offer not only competitive salaries but also attractive living conditions, high-performing health care and education systems, and political and economic stability,” Adrjan said. “Immigration policies must align with these efforts.”