Alma Career's international survey: every third employee would consider relocating for a better job

Alma Media Corporation                   Press release            26 March 2024

ALMA CAREER'S INTERNATIONAL SURVEY: EVERY THIRD EMPLOYEE WOULD CONSIDER RELOCATING FOR A BETTER JOB

Alma Media's international recruitment services business unit, Alma Career, coordinated an international survey about employees' willingness to relocate for a better job. Over 76,000 respondents from 13 countries in Eastern Central Europe participated in the survey. 

More willing to relocate are employees with higher income and higher educational level (29 %), and they are mainly only willing to relocate for a job within their own profession (55%). Relocating with families (60%) and the potential for better salary (60%) are the main motivators for working abroad.

“One of our presumptions was that people in the lower income groups with less education would have been the most significant groups interested in relocating after a better job opportunity. The survey reveals that rather the opposite is true, the higher the education and the better the salary, the more likely are the top employees interested in relocating within their own profession,” comments Alma Career Business Director, Vesa-Pekka Kirsi.

This is emphasized in Finland, since, as much as 80% of respondents would like to work only in their own field if they moved abroad. The percentage was the highest in the survey. Finland was followed by Lithuania (74%) and Latvia (70%).

"It seems that for Finnish employees who are considering international migration, career-focus is emphasized. Eastern European top talents are not ready to move for work at any cost, but only for a relatively short period of time, some weeks or months, and it is important for them to be able to take family with them,” continues Kirsi.

The survey results included the following information as well:
 

• Those with primary and secondary education are the most willing (53%) to consider a lower-ranking position abroad than they currently have if they relocated. Correspondingly, those with postgraduate education, master's (55%) or doctoral (57%), are the least willing to change their current positions into a lower-ranking one abroad.
   
• In Central Europe, the Balkans and the Baltics, as well as Finland, better pay is the strongest reason to consider a job abroad, about 59-61% of people cite it as their main motivator. The second strongest factor is the opportunity to bring family members, especially in the Baltics and Finland, where 42% consider it important.
   
• Career development and professional development are major motivators, while language development and political or economic conditions are considered less important.
   
• In general, 20% in Finland, 16% in Slovenia and 17% in Poland are less willing to move than 28% in North Macedonia or 27% in Estonia.
   
• The most popular countries to relocate to for work in Europe are Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

About the survey. The survey was conducted in between 1 November 2023 and 31 January 2024 in Alma Career countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. In addition, data were collected from Bulgaria, where Alma Career operates with partners.

More detailed survey result press release available at: almacareer.com

ABOUT ALMA CAREER

Alma Career, the market leader in recruitment services across 11 countries in Europe, operates job board business with offering of over 1,5 million job opportunities, CV database of over 4,3 million, almost 2 million active job alerts, and over 5 million monthly visitors. Alma Career offers recruitment services based on data and technological innovation. The reach of Alma Career network is about 80 million people in Europe, revenue 110 million euros with nearly 800 recruitment business professionals in Eastern Central Europe (2023).

Alma Career is a global company with local heart; it has a deep knowledge, long expertise and cultural understanding of the local markets. Alma Career operates in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Alma Career operates in Finland with Jobly brand Welcome | Jobly

Alma Career is part of the Alma Media Group: www.almamedia.fi

For further information, please contact:

Vesa-Pekka Kirsi, Business Director, Alma Career, tel. +358 10 665 2587

Alma Media in brief

Alma Media is an international company of digital media, marketplaces and services with a strong capacity for renewal. We inspire human curiosity and choice by creating services that combine technology and content with a local heart. In Finland, our best-known brands include Kauppalehti, Talouselämä, Iltalehti, Jobly, Etuovi.com, Nettiauto and Nettimoto. Our recruitment services include prace.cz and jobs.cz in the Czech Republic, Profesia.sk in Slovakia and mojposao.net in Croatia.

In Finland, our business operations include leading housing and automotive marketplaces, financial and professional media, national consumer media and content and data services for businesses and professionals. Alma Media’s international business in Eastern Central Europe, Sweden and the Baltic countries consists of recruitment services and an online marketplace for commercial properties.

Alma Media operates in 12 countries in Europe and employs approximately 1,700 professionals. Alma Media’s revenue from continuing operations was EUR 305 million in 2023 of which the share of digital business was 82%. Alma Media’s share is listed on NASDAQ Helsinki. Read more at www.almamedia.fi/en/.

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