Foreign interest in UK jobs has doubled since the government launched its post-Brexit immigration regime, according to data from jobs platform Indeed.
The share of UK job searches by non-UK workers rose by 146% from a pandemic low point of 2.2% in April 2021, to 5.5% in June 2023. Foreign searches also remain well above the 2017-2019 average of 3.5%, Indeed found.
When it came to EU-based jobs, 2.8% of all clicks came from outside the bloc in June 2023, compared to just 1.5% in April 2021.
The new, points-based immigration system came into force in January 2021, and requires employers to sponsor and secure visas for people outside the UK who want to live and work here but do not already have settled status or permanent leave to remain.
Indeed’s analysis looked at countries where Ithe company has a website, looking at where the search or click was recorded and the IP location of those who are searching.
Post-Brexit immigration
Indeed’s data showed that personal care and home health was the largest sector of interest for foreign job seekers looking at jobs in the UK, attracting 9.3% of foreign clicks in the first half of this year, up by 7.3 percentage points from 2019.
These positions most commonly attracted interest from applicants in Nigeria, India and South Africa, it found.
Ukrainian workers seeking refuge from the conflict in their own country were most interested in English-speaking nations; the UK received 15% of clicks from Ukrainians, while Canada and the US were both popular (34% and 25%) respectively.
And while larger English-speaking countries were popular with non-domestic jobseekers, smaller nations including Luxembourg, Oman and Switzerland attracted higher foreign search shares, it said.
Pawel Adrjan, director of EMEA research at Indeed, said: “Immigration to developed countries has rebounded significantly in recent years, fueled in large part by tight labour markets and long-term demographic trends including ageing populations and shrinking local workforces.
“In fact, ONS data shows that net migration to the UK was 606,000 in 2022, the highest number on record. In contrast, Indeed’s data shows that the EU is struggling to establish itself as a top destination for foreign job seekers, despite the rebound from pandemic lows.”
Research from the CIPD earlier this year found that only 15% of employers have used the new immigration system to sponsor migrant workers, however.
Similarly, the new system has not had the impact on recruitment and development of UK workers that had been hoped – the CIPD found that introducing a requirement to sponsor certain overseas workers had not led to a greater investment in local talent.
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