The global workforce is increasingly mobile with more than 35 per cent of respondents to a Boston Consulting Group survey saying they’d be willing to work in Canada.

That puts Canada behind only the U.S. and Britain as a preferred destination for global talent. All three top destinations are anglophone, and English is the second language most commonly taught around the world.

The finding is based on a Boston Consulting Group online survey of 200,000 people in 189 countries. Researchers conducted interviews with about 50 people. The sample was weighted by age, background and geographic area.

The study found that Canada holds the greatest appeal for Mexicans, South Koreans, Saudi Arabians, and Britons.

Among French-speaking respondents, about 59 per cent said they would consider working here.

The proportion of people willing to work abroad is particularly high in developing countries and those experiencing political instability.

Willing to work abroad

But people in wealthy, stable countries also showed a very high willingness to work abroad — more than 75 per cent of survey respondents in Switzerland, more than 80 per cent of respondents in Australia, and more than 90 per cent of respondents in the Netherlands

London, New York and Paris were mentioned as the top destination cities, however Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver also were recognized by respondents as appealing places to work.

“It’s a world in which the geographic barriers to employment are coming down, including in the minds of some of the most talented and highly educated workers,” Rainer Strack, a BCG senior partner, said in a news release.

“This is opening up significant opportunities for individuals and for the many countries and multinational companies that are facing talent shortages of one sort or another,” he added.

Engineering and technical jobs were among the most mobile professions with high demand for their skills. More than 70 per cent of engineers surveyed said they would be willing to go abroad for work.

Canada has been able to attract these workers with its controversial temporary foreign workers program.

Health workers are less likely to want to move, with only half of them saying they’d welcome a job in another country.

CBC news