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Best places to work in the world: London ranked number one by global workforce

London has remained the number one city for work, according to the latest findings from the Global Talent Survey. As in 2014, the UK’s capital was the most appealing for global workers who were asked where they would consider working abroad.

The Global Talent Survey is a comprehensive look at the global stage, with 366,000 respondents from 197 countries offering their insight into work preferences and mobility. This study and the resultant “Decoding Global Talent” report is produced by Totaljobs in the UK, as part of The Network, an alliance of over 50 recruitment websites worldwide, in partnership with The Boston Consulting Group.

London was crowned first place by a significant amount compared to the other cities listed. It leads with 22%, followed by New York at 16%, Berlin and Barcelona at 15% and Amsterdam at 14%.

The top 10 most attractive cities for the global workforce are:

  1. London 22%
  2. New York 16%
  3. Berlin 15%
  4. Barcelona 15%
  5. Amsterdam 14%
  6. Dubai 12%
  7. Los Angeles 11%s
  8. Paris 11%
  9. Sydney 9%
  10. Tokyo 8%

London’s achievement is one to be celebrated all the more when considering the UK’s overall attractiveness has actually fallen. Back in 2014, the UK was the second most attractive country to work; now, it sits at fifth. It has been replaced by Germany, while the USA remains on top.

What makes London so appealing?

The outlook of those both within and outside of the UK has been altered following the vote to leave the European Union in 2016, which is likely to have affected how our respondents rank the UK in terms of career opportunity. However, 60% of London voters were in favour of remaining (in some boroughs, the remain vote was over 70%).

This perhaps reflects that London is still seen as a very appealing destination for work, which very much echoes the #LondonIsOpen campaign, as well as the global “brand” of the capital.

As a result, despite changing perceptions of the UK, London’s own brand has remained strong, continuing to be heralded as an inclusive, fulfilling city to work. The city acts as a global hub for finance and business, celebrates creativity and entrepreneurship, and also has much to offer culturally and socially too.  Additionally, 37% of London residents were born outside of the UK, which is likely to have sway when it comes to establishing how attractive the city is for work globally.

One of our respondents, James Swanston, relocated to London in 2007 from Australia. Since moving, Swanston established an inbound-logistics-management firm that now has twenty employees.

Swanston would not dream of living anywhere but London:

It is an amazing city. It’s a very vibrant cultural centre. There’s a lot of political stability despite what you read in the news. It’s got strong transportation and a good health care system, and education is excellent. Geographically, it’s easy to go from here to Europe and the East Coast of the US.

London will always be one of those great cities that people will be happy to move to from other parts of the world.

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