Undeterred by travel restrictions being put in place in anticipation of a third-wave of Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a steady growth in overseas job searches by Indians with the US, Canada, the Middle East and the UK topping the list, according to a report.
The search activity from India for jobs in other countries was highest between November 2019 and April 2020, where it witnessed a 72 per cent jump, but it declined sharply after the second wave of Covid-19 hit the world, forcing nations to reinforce travel restrictions, global job site Indeed said in a report.
However, soon after the world recovered from the second wave of the pandemic, job searches for overseas opportunities picked up and continued to remain steady, it stated.
"Indians even amid the third wave are willing to work in different parts of the world, especially for tech roles.
"Indian talent has been attracting a lot of global attention and it truly is a testament to our talent being recognised in global organisations," Indeed India head of sales Sashi Kumar noted.
Indian job seekers show a keen inclination towards working in countries like the US, Canada, the UK, as well as the Middle East region, according to Indeed data.
Over 40 per cent of Indians searched for jobs in the US, making it the most popular destination during 2019-2021, followed by Canada (16 per cent) with its immigration friendly policies, it said.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (14 per cent), with its constantly improving readiness of skilled labour pushed Great Britain (14 per cent) to fourth position followed by Qatar (3 per cent) and Singapore (3 per cent) contesting for fifth place to complete the top five global destinations list, it stated.
Interestingly Qatar, which was on the seventh spot during November 2019 – October 2020 overtook Australia and Singapore to make it to the top five global destinations during November 2020-October 2021, said the report.
Australia emerged as the close sixth place for Indians looking for job opportunities abroad, it added.
The report is based on job searches compilation and analysis of data on Indeed platform from November 2019 till October 2021.
Meanwhile, the report further revealed that some of the most popular job roles among job seekers looking to immigrate include tech jobs such as software engineer, full stack developer, data analyst among others.
Jobseekers are also looking for opportunities in customer service and blue collar light skilled jobs including drivers, it added.
While the IT and highly tech and engineering related job searches are mostly concentrated in the US, North America, UK, the latter are concentrated in the Gulf region, it stated.
"India is a unique market, not only in terms of its large and youthful labour pool but also in the way that it is woven into the global economy.
"It is one of a very small number of countries in the world that has a very high rate of migration across the world," Kumar added.
"People from India are willing to work in different parts of the world and then return to India as well.
"This two-way migration connects India into the global labour force in a really interesting way.
"Further, we also witness entire factions of the Indian labour force doing work in support of other economies, and thus connected to the global economy," Kumar added.
