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04th Mar 2021

Ireland sees drop in attractive work destination rankings

Stephen Porzio

Employees from the UK were the most open to moving to Ireland in 2020.

Ireland has dropped six places in the global rankings for most attractive work destinations over the last three years, according to a new study from e-recruitment platform IrishJobs.ie.

It revealed Ireland has dropped significantly in its ranking for attractiveness to workers, falling 13 places since the first study was undertaken in 2014.

Ireland now ranks at number 32, coming down six places from number 26 in 2018 and moving from number 19 in 2014.

Dublin has also suffered a fall in the rankings for most attractive cities slipping to 36th place in 2020 compared to 34th in 2018.

The capital’s positioning is down a total of 12 places since the city rankings were first published in 2014, where it was placed at number 24.

Orla Moran, General Manager at IrishJobs.ie, said in a statement: “Most significantly what we see from the data is the continued decline in Ireland and Dublin’s attractiveness as a career destination amongst foreign workers.

“While there is no one clear reason for this decline in Ireland’s desirability, Ireland is now viewed by many as one of the most expensive destinations in the EU and one lacking in sufficient housing stock.”

The survey polled a total of 209,000 workers across 190 countries, including 824 employees in Ireland.

It found Canada to be the most desirable country for employment overall, followed by the United States and Australia.

London proved to be the most attractive city globally, with Amsterdam and Dubai ranking in second and third position.

Employees from the UK were the most open to moving to Ireland in 2020, followed by workers from Spain and Italy.

Of those who want to move to Ireland for work, the largest percentage (6.7%) work in engineering and technical roles, just beating out IT and technology workers (5.2%), as well as students (5.2%).

Despite the impact of Covid-19 on working abroad, 47% of Irish employees would still be willing to travel for work according to the 2020 data, down 13% compared to 2018.

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