London beats New York as most appealing city to work

London has beaten New York and Paris to become the most appealing city for foreign workers to seek employment, according to a new report.

The Boston Consulting Group and totaljobs.com surveyed more than 200,000 people across the world and found that around one in six would consider working in London.

The British capital and New York came up most frequently when respondents were asked which cities in the world they would consider moving to for work. "This is probably no surprise," says the report. "In addition to being global centres of business and culture, London and New York have the biggest foreign-born populations of any cities in the world, with about three million foreign-born people each. This immediately makes those places seem more welcoming – or at least less intimidating – to people from other places."

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But London was the only British city to make it into the top 15. Germany and Spain each had two cities on the list, while the US had three.

Mike Booker, international director at totaljobs.com, told The Guardian: "If people want to move to the UK, they want to move to London." He highlighted the prominence of the finance industry as well as high salary prospects, public healthcare and cultural diversity.

More than 200,000 people from 188 countries were asked to give up to five answers to the question: "Which cities would you consider working in abroad?" Here are the top 15 answers:

1 London (16%)

2 New York (12.2%)

3 Paris (8.9%)

4 Sydney (5.2%)

5 Madrid (5%)

6 Berlin (4.6%)

7 Barcelona (4.4%)

8 Toronto (4.2%)

9 Singapore (3.9%)

10 Rome (3.5%)

11 Dubai (3.4%)

12 Los Angeles (3.2%)

13 Tokyo (2.8%)

14 Munich (2.6%)

15 Miami (2.5%)

When it came to overall countries, the US pipped the UK to the top spot, with 42 per cent saying they would be willing to move to America, compared to 37 per cent willing to move the UK. Canada came in third with 35 per cent. The report suggests that all three benefit from being largely English-speaking at a time when English is the most frequently taught second language.

Among the 6,363 UK respondents, the US was the most desirable foreign work destination, followed by Canada, Denmark, Australia and France.