The World's Top Work Destinations Over Time

The pandemic has had a major impact on people’s attitudes toward working abroad: it reduced their interest generally, while causing them to favor countries that have done the best job of containing the coronavirus.

A new study by Boston Consulting Group and The Network reveals that the U.S. has lost its status as the most appealing work destination for expats. The country fell to second rank behind Canada. This year’s survey, which included almost 209,000 participants in 190 countries, also shows that only about 50 percent of people are in fact willing to move to another country for work.

Almost all of the countries that moved up in the top ten ranking - Canada, Australia and Japan - have relatively low incidences of COVID-19. With Singapore and New Zealand, two new countries that have won praise for their pandemic management entered the top 10 for the first time.

In Europe, high infection numbers are very likely the reason why Italy, France and Spain have fallen in the ranking. While all three were part of the top ten of work destinations in 2014 and 2018, only France remained on the list in 2020. Despite the relatively good management of the first COVID-19 wave, Germany's image seems to have been tarnished by the European Union’s overall number of coronavirus cases. However, the country remains the top work destination in Europe.