Three-quarters of Russians would like to work in another country, a recent survey says. The most desirable country for work was the United Kingdom, where 42 percent of respondents would be ready to work. The five most-desired countries also included the United States (41 percent), Germany (38 percent), Canada (32 percent) and Australia (28 percent).
The countries that got the least votes while still managing to make it onto the list turned out to be Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovenia, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Peru, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, all voted for by 1 percent of respondents. Working in Romania, Oman, Libya and Jordan did not get any votes, said analysts at HeadHunter, who interviewed 4,868 people in Russian cities with at least a million inhabitants.
As suggested by HeadHunter Director Mikhail Zhukov, the reason is simple — English is the most popular foreign language among Russians. In his view, the main incentive for Russians to work abroad is not a big salary: “People want more comfortable and secure lives, understanding that there they would not have to lay claim to high salaries.” The exceptions are academics and some professionals who do not see a life of dignity and self-fulfillment in their subject areas in Russia.
According to the survey, the majority of Russians who want to work in another country are IT specialists with higher technical education between the ages of 20 and 34 (21 percent of those surveyed). This is followed by the production sector (10 percent) and finance (8 percent).
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