Singapore’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic could help lure overseas talent, according to the people behind a newly released survey.
Singapore was more popular than 182 other nations among respondents who said they would relocate for work last year, according to a labor mobility survey, though it found fewer people overall interested in working abroad. Malaysian agency JobStreet credited the pandemic response for Singapore’s climb from 24th to eighth place since last year.
“The 2020 list now sees a total of four Asia-Pacific countries,” JobStreet said today of Singapore, Australia, Japan and New Zealand in the annual report by U.S. firm Boston Consulting Group. “This is likely due to the countries’ management of COVID-19, which have largely registered low mortality rates and kept infection cases in check.”
That analysis was shared by Boston Consulting Group, which polled about 209,000 people online for the results.
“The changes to the list of top-ten destinations largely reflect different countries’ success in managing COVID-19 outbreaks. Almost all of the countries that have fallen lower on the list or disappeared from it – including the US, France, Italy, and Spain – have struggled, at some point in the last year, to ‘flatten the curve.’”
The United States was knocked off the top spot by Canada.
Residents of China, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Switzerland found Singapore especially desirable, according to the findings, who noted interest in its high quality of life.
Meanwhile, fewer Singaporeans said they were willing to work abroad amid the pandemic.
According to the survey, only 44% of Singaporeans expressed interest in doing so, down from the nearly 80% who did in 2014. Singaporeans who wanted to work abroad had their eyes on Australia, followed by China, Taiwan and New Zealand. Singapore and Australia are currently in talks to establish a safe travel agreement.
Singapore’s once-raging COVID outbreak has diminished to only a trickle of daily new cases since September, averaging 12 new cases a day in the past week. A dozen were logged today; the official death toll stands at 29. Currently, employees are strongly encouraged to work remotely or split into small teams if that’s not possible.
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