In a Boston Consulting Group survey posted on Yahoo! of 209,000 workers in 190 countries, the United States dropped from first to second place as the country workers would most willingly relocate to. Canada ranked No. 1. Boston Consulting has done the survey twice before, in 2014 and in 2018. The United States ranked first both times, while Canada ranked third.
The report attributes the U.S. drop to “an inconsistent pandemic response, the adoption of more nationalistic policies, and social unrest.”
“The United States wasn’t the only country to lose luster in the survey. Germany fell from second in 2018 to fourth in 2020, probably because of a spurt of anti-immigration sentiment. The UK ranked second in 2014, but fell to fifth in 2019 and 2020. The UK’s chaotic exit from the European Union – Brexit – occurred in 2016 and wasn’t finalized until the end of 2020. The UK also struggled with a high coronavirus death rate. Countries moving up in the BCG welcome index include No. 3 Australia, No. 6 Japan and No. 10 New Zealand. Each has a coronavirus death rate far lower than the global average.”