A new report by Boston Consulting Group and The Network says that two-thirds of Nigerian professionals and three-quarters of Ghanaian professionals are willing to work abroad.
The report, Decoding Global Talent 2024, surveyed over 150,000 workers in 188 countries and found that younger professionals and those from fast-growing populations were more likely to seek opportunities abroad.
English-speaking countries with strong economies, such as Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, were the top destinations, with London and New York ranking among the most desirable cities.
The report stated that Nigeria ranked 67th and Ghana 72nd in terms of attractiveness to global workers, while Abuja and Lagos ranked 63rd and 103rd, respectively, in terms of desired cities.
“The world’s most important economies are facing a major challenge: the great shortage of people. This looming gap in the global labour market is primarily due to declining birth rates and mismatches between job supply and demand,” said the CEO of Stepstone Group, Sebastian Dettmers.
“Labour migration represents a prime opportunity to bridge this gap. We must adapt our job markets to be more versatile, enabling workers to move to where they are most needed and where they can find the best positions for their skills and aspirations,” the Punch newspaper reported on Thursday.
It added that the report said that the top 10 countries Nigerians prefer to work abroad for are Canada, the UK, the USA, Australia, Germany, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and France.
This marks a slight change from the survey done in 2020 that found that people from Nigeria were looking for work in the Netherlands (8th position in 2020), New Zealand (9th position in 2020), and Ireland (10th position in 2020).
Ghanaians’ top 10 countries for work opportunities are Canada, the USA, the UK, Australia, Germany, the UAE, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium.
The Principal at BCG, Adwoa Banful, stated, “West Africa continues to offer attractive job opportunities for local professionals and for others from the rest of the continent and overseas, who are seeking to advance their careers.
“There are some clear reasons why people are choosing to relocate to Nigeria and Ghana, most notably the quality of job opportunities, and the region’s welcoming culture and family-centric environment,” the report added.
GIK/APA
Two-thirds of Nigerian professionals willing to work abroad – Report
