The United States, the UK and Australia were the top three destinations for professionals worldwide, an online survey of more than 2,000 participants released by recruitment firm Hydrogen has showed.
The US has increased its lead by 7% to 23% of preferences this year compared to last year, while the UK saw a 4% increase to 13%, putting it neck-and-neck with Australia, which also gathered 13% of preferences.
These countries were followed by Singapore, Canada, Switzerland, France, Hong Kong, UAE and Germany.
Fast-growing China was on the 11th place, followed by Brazil, Italy, Spain and New Zealand.
In terms of sectors, the top three "magnets" for technology professionals are the US, the UK and Singapore, for finance the US, Singapore and Australia, for oil and gas the US, Australia and Brazil, for life sciences the US, the UK and Australia and for the legal profession, the US, the UK and Hong Kong.
"The US is still the dominant force, but the UK is definitely on the march," Dan Fox, managing director of technology practice at Hydrogen, said in a statement.
"A lot of Europeans view the UK as a tech hub where you can work for exciting fast-paced companies. We’re seeing a lot of Europeans coming to work in the UK. It’s all about wanting to work for the up-and-coming companies.”
The survey, however, had a heavy UK bias; 31% of the 2,146 professionals interviewed were from the UK, with the remaining coming from countries in Europe, Australasia, North America, Middle East and Asia.
Professionals in 90 different countries from the legal, finance, business transformation, technology, oil and gas, power, life sciences, mining, trading and advisory sectors responded to the poll, which was carried out in November last year .
It also showed that there was a "reverse brain drain" trend emerging in Asia, as Asians working abroad are relocating back home to countries such as Singapore, Malaysia or Indonesia, attracted by generous incentives offered by governments and companies keen to take advantage of the skills they gained.
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