UK LinkedIn Workforce Report: The UK is becoming less attractive as a destination for international talent

LinkedIn’s fifth UK Workforce Report reveals that the UK is becoming a less attractive destination for international talent, with a marked slowdown in the number of overseas professionals coming to the UK for work in February. February also saw a fall in hiring, with the majority of regions and sectors seeing a decline in hiring rates compared to January.

Other key insights include:

• The UK lost more overseas talent than it gained. A majority of the UK’s twelve nations and regions lost more talent than they gained overseas in February, marking a significant change on January, when nine out of twelve regions saw a net gain in international talent. Most notable is the decline in London, with the capital experiencing a net loss of international talent for the first time since the Workforce Report began.
• Hiring fell in 8 out of the 12 nations and regions in the UK. February saw an overall decrease in the number of hires made, compared to a strong start in January. The majority of regions and nations saw a fall in their hiring rate, with an average decrease of 2.5 percent across the country. Yorkshire and the Humber, Northern Ireland and the West Midlands were the regions that saw the largest declines in hiring.
• The majority of economic sectors saw a slowdown in hiring. The hiring rate in 11 out of 19 sectors saw a decline in February, with the public sector, including healthcare and education, seeing the largest falls in hiring. However, February did see some sectors buck the trend – with hardware networking and energy and mining enjoying growth of 20 percent and 14 percent respectively when compared with January.

These insights are drawn from the data of more than 24 million LinkedIn members in the UK, which represents more than 70 percent of the working age population. The data shows the extent to which hiring is increasing or decreasing across the UK, its regions, and industries, and where workers are moving to and from. The report is a tool which is designed to be used by policy makers, business and individuals to support them in making informed economic decisions.

Click here to read the full March LinkedIn UK Workforce Report.