The opportunity to work abroad strongly shapes career paths, with employees developing skills they may not have honed at home. Thanks to Europe’s status as a single market, the number of people who have worked abroad is relatively high — but where in Europe do workers have the most international experience?
Hiring platform Indeed defines ‘internationally mobile workers’ as those who have at least one work experience in a country other than their current country of residence.
As of late 2025, 16.7% of job seekers in the single market had international experience on their résumé, according to employment platform Indeed. By comparison, only about 5.1% of workers in the United States were internationally mobile.
“The high share of internationally mobile workers in Europe reflects both the policies that support mobility and the value placed on cross-border professional experience,” said Sneha Puri, immigration policy analyst at Indeed.
Indeed data covers eight European countries, one of which is no longer part of the single market, and the share of international work experience varies widely across them.
Switzerland and Ireland: Relatively smaller economies
Switzerland has the highest share of foreign work experience, with more than half of job seekers (51%) reporting experience abroad. This figure is above two in five (42%) in Ireland. These two countries are outliers.
“Relatively smaller economies (in terms of number of people in the workforce) such as Switzerland and Ireland can appear to have disproportionately high shares of internationally mobile workers because even modest inflows represent a larger percentage of their total workforce,” Puri told Euronews Business.
Germany ranks third, with a quarter of job seekers having foreign work experience. This share is also higher than one in five job seekers in Spain and the UK.
Foreign work experience is higher than the Single Market average in the Netherlands and France.
Geographic proximity and size of economies
Sneha Puri noted that there are several factors contributing to variations in the level of internationally mobile workers across Europe.
“Geographic proximity plays a significant role in intra-single-market movement. Countries located close to multiple large labour markets tend to experience more cross-border mobility and facilitate intra-single-market movement,” she said.
For example, internationally mobile workers in Switzerland could very easily be from one of its many neighbouring countries such as Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Liechtenstein.
Puri explained that some European countries also attract more intercontinental migrants than others, either due to more multinational corporations or more international students.
Referring to Switzerland and Ireland, she added: “Finally, and possibly one of the biggest factors, is the actual number of workers in the economy.”
European job seekers look beyond borders
Indeed data shows that job seekers in the European single market are increasingly looking for opportunities outside their home countries, both within the bloc and beyond. This interest falls into two categories.
Intra-single-market interest refers to job searches by workers in one member country for roles in another member country.
Outbound interest captures searches by job seekers in member countries for jobs in non-member countries.
The two shares were roughly equal until mid-2024, mostly ranging between 2% and 4%. Since December 2024, however, outbound interest started to increase, reaching a peak of 7.2% by October 2025. Intra-single-market interest remains at 5.4%.
The US and the UK are the leading destinations outside the European single market for outbound job searches. In 2025, they accounted for 40.5% and 30.4% of such searches, respectively, with Germany being the main country of origin for both destinations.
The UK left the Single Market after Brexit at the end of 2020.