But “Austria” is still very attractive, especially with highly qualified people. “In this segment, the country ranks eighth among the most popular places to work in the world. The Austrian economy should benefit from it, ”says Lucas Haider, Austrian head of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In an international comparison, Austria is down four places to 15th since the previous survey in 2018, the study shows “Decoding Global Talent”, for which BCG, Stepstone and The Network surveyed 208,000 employees from 190 countries.

Vienna dropped to 22nd place

Austria is particularly attractive to Hungarian, Slovenian, Serb and German. Vienna as a city is ranked ninth at 22nd, New York at eighth from second. The most attractive city is now London, ahead of Amsterdam and Dubai. If you look only at European job seekers, Vienna ranks eighth among the most popular destinations.

According to the study’s authors, the new “virtual mobility” is an opportunity for Austrian employers to retain talent. 57 percent of those polled are now willing to work remotely for an employer abroad. As a target country for virtual mobility, Austria ranks tenth internationally on a par with Singapore.

Fewer people want to work abroad

In general, fewer people want to work abroad as a result of the coronavirus epidemic. In 2014, 64 percent of those polled wanted 57 percent in 2018 and only 50 percent in 2020. Canada is no longer the United States but the most popular destination country.

The winners also include Australia, which now sits third ahead of Germany and Asian countries. The epidemic also made its mark on this survey: countries with rapid and efficient control of the virus have become more attractive, while those who have been hit by the epidemic have lost.

For their part, Austrians have become more mobile, which is contrary to the international trend – 52 percent now want to work abroad, compared to 50 percent in the previous survey. Austrians like to work in Germany, Switzerland, the US and Canada.