Indians shunning overseas job lure; job hunt at home on rise

New Delhi: The charm of fetching a job overseas is waning in India as political uncertainty abroad has spurred highly skilled Indian talent to stay at home to look for employment, says a survey. As per a recent data released today by global job site Indeed, there has been a 38 per cent decrease in Indians looking to move to the US and 42 per cent decrease in Indians eyeing for the UK in the last year.

The report noted that the prospect of Brexit is likely to have deterred Indian job seekers looking for an opportunity in the UK as countries such as Germany and Ireland have seen an increase in Indians actively looking for jobs. Germany has seen a 10 per cent increase in Indians looking for jobs while Ireland has seen a 20 per cent increase for the same period.

The decrease in the number of Indians looking to move abroad also extends to the Gulf, as evidenced by the 21 per cent decrease in searches to the UAE. “The steadily growing Indian economy and political uncertainty abroad has persuaded highly skilled Indian talent to stay at home to find jobs and this in turn has fostered a thriving start-up scene,” said Sashi Kumar, Managing Director, Indeed India.

Meanwhile, job search to India has seen an uptick with a 25 per cent rise in people from the UK. The trend is even more pronounced for the Asia Pacific region, with a 170 per cent increase in interest in moving to India. “This growing popularity of India as an employment destination is further bolstered by government initiatives such as ‘Make in India’, which offers ease of doing business in India,” Kumar added.

Despite the declining figures, the US still tops the list of countries that Indians would like to migrate to, with 49 per cent of Indians willing to explore job opportunities there. The other countries where Indians look to work include the UAE (16 per cent), Canada (9 per cent), Great Britain (5 per cent), Singapore (4 per cent), Australia (3 per cent), Qatar (2 per cent), South Africa (1 per cent) and Bahrain (1 per cent), the report said.