Interest in UK tech jobs has fallen while the rest of Europe has seen searches surge, while US-based jobseekers are falling out of love with the UK tech scene as they increasingly look for work in mainland Europe, according to new research.
The new data, released by job site Indeed, shows that the share of searches for jobs in Britain’s tech sector fell by 3% between the first half of 2017 and the first half of 2019.
Over the same period, searches for tech jobs in Belgium increased by 76%, with Portugal clocking a 45% rise and Sweden 42%. Of the 11 European countries studied, the UK was the only one to register a fall in searches for tech jobs.
Interest among American tech professionals in UK tech jobs has also declined over the past two years. The share of searches by US-based tech workers looking for roles in the UK fell from 17.1% in 2017 to 13.6% in 2019.
Excluding the UK, the rest of Europe’s share of job searches originating in the US has risen from 8.6% in 2017 to 9.4% in 2019.
Despite Americans’ cooling interest in British tech jobs, the UK remains the most popular EU country among US-based tech workers planning a move to Europe.
Indeed’s analysis for technology investment company Atomico’s State of European Tech Report 2019 also showed that interest from overseas workers outside the US has remained strong on the whole, with one in 10 clicks on UK tech jobs coming from abroad. Clicks from non-EU countries accounted for 6% of the total clicks on those jobs, a slight increase since 2015.
Much of that interest has come from India, which has a large pool of tech professionals.
More than a fifth (20.9%) of all searches for UK jobs made by India-based jobseekers were for tech jobs.
Meanwhile, overseas investment continues to flow into the UK’s tech businesses. The UK tech industry received £5.5bn in global investment in the first eight months of 2019, more than the amount received during the whole of 20181.
Bill Richards, UK Managing Director of global job site Indeed, commented: “Our data shows European tech hubs have access to a deep pool of high-skilled workers and as funding across the continent grows so do job opportunities in the tech sector. We’ve also seen how European tech workers are prepared to work elsewhere on the continent compared to their American counterparts, who are showing signs of wanting to stay in North America.
“Overall searches for UK tech jobs may have dipped but there is still much to shout about the sector. Britain remains a hotbed for tech innovation, with global investment still pouring in and the country remains a world leader for creating tech unicorns and attracting a high-skilled global workforce.
“The slowdown in interest for UK tech jobs and the gains being made across Europe coincided with Brexit, suggesting the uncertainty about post-Brexit Britain could be eating into tech workers’ desire to work in the UK.
“For employers, this means a squeeze for tech talent and potential challenges attracting workers. We know salary is the most important motivation but people also want to identify and connect with companies whose job opportunities will be the right next step in their career, and whose cultures will enable them to thrive.”