Spanish workers among keenest in Europe to stay in home country when seeking next job

Despite Brits’ evident love affair with all things Spanish – the climate, the property, the food, the beaches – one aspect of life in Spain that is arguably weaker than that found in the UK is employment…

The recent struggles of the Spanish economy not only made it harder to find and keep a job, but also served to suppress wages at a time when other countries, particularly those in northern Europe, were enjoying wage growth.

So it should come as little surprise to discover that Brits do not really intend to move to Spain in their droves for work. But then again, a recent study by international job portal Indeed found that Brits do not intend to move, well, anywhere for work.

The research revealed that a massive 98.52% of Brits expect to seek and find their next job in the UK – the highest percentage of any nationality examined in the EU.

Furthermore, the poll of the EU15 – the 15 strongest economies in the European Union – found that the UK was the most desirable location for jobseekers looking for work in a country other than their own, with 37.2% of those keen on working abroad favouring the UK.

Of course, the fact that most transient Europeans of working age are likely to speak English as a second language goes some way to explaining that dominance, as does the UK’s relaxed labour laws and (relatively) high wages.

“It is very clear that the average Briton is considerably less likely to want to work in Europe than the average European wants to work in Britain,” said Indeed’s economist, Mariano Mamertino. Those most interested in UK jobs were the Irish (12.7%), Greeks (9.5%) and Danes (7.1%), whereas the handful of Brits who do wish to move abroad for their next job would actually rather leave Europe altogether, with the USA and India the most preferred destinations.

Contrast this reluctance to move with the millions of Brits who currently reside in Spain and it becomes clear the type of demographic most likely to become a British expat: aged over 45 and financially stable.

The data also showed that Spain was the preferred employment destination of 5.7% of would-be jobseekers, putting it some way down a list led by the UK, then Germany, France and the Netherlands.

However, when it comes to those people who wish to remain in their own country for work, Spain performed strongly, with more than 93% of Spaniards hoping for their next job to be in Spain – a figure beaten only by the UK, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany, but placing the country ahead of Finland and Sweden.

And the good news for that bulk of Spaniards is the increasing strength of Spain’s job market, which added a further 58,000 jobs in March to take the unemployment figure down to 4.09 million – the lowest it has been for more than six years.