The opportunity to work abroad plays a decisive role in shaping careers, as workers across the EU acquire skills they might never gain at home. Thanks to Europe’s status as a single market, the share of people with international work experience is relatively high—but which parts of Europe lead when it comes to global exposure?
What the data show
Recruitment platform Indeed defines “internationally mobile workers” as those who have held at least one job in a country other than where they currently live. By the end of 2025, 16.7% of jobseekers in the European single market reported international experience on their CVs. By comparison, only about 5.1% of U.S. workers had similar cross-border experience.
“The large share of internationally mobile workers in Europe reflects both mobility-friendly policies and the premium placed on cross-border experience,” said Sneha Puri, a migration policy analyst at Indeed.
Indeed data from eight European countries show wide differences: Switzerland leads, with 51% of jobseekers reporting experience abroad, followed by Ireland at 42%. Puri noted that factors such as multinational employers, international student inflows and, above all, workforce size help explain these gaps.
Jobseekers look beyond borders
The data show that European jobseekers are increasingly looking beyond their home countries for work, both within and outside the EU. This interest falls into two categories: intra–single market searches, where workers seek jobs in other member states, and extra–single market searches, which target non-EU countries.
Until mid-2024, both shares were similar, generally between 2% and 4%. From December 2024, however, interest outside the single market rose sharply, peaking at 7.2% in October 2025, while intra–single market interest remained more stable at 5.4%.
The United States and the United Kingdom are the main non-EU destinations, accounting for 40.5% and 30.4% of outbound searches in 2025, with Germany the leading country of origin for jobseekers targeting both markets.
