Data from Indeed has shown that jobseekers in Britain who want to work in America are most likely to be looking for roles in California, New York and Florida. However, while UK searches accounted for 7.9 per cent of inbound ones for US jobs this year, interest in working in America has fallen by almost 20 per cent over the past four years.
Indeed says customer service roles are the US jobs most sought after by UK-based jobseekers, with other roles that are typically popular among younger workers – such as administrative and babysitter roles – also ranking highly.
The booming tech sector and the draw of Silicon Valley is also likely to play a part in the strong appeal of the Golden State and the West Coast cities of Los Angeles (8.4 per cent) and San Francisco (4.1 per cent), which are among the most popular cities behind New York City (15 per cent), which tops the list of most popular work destinations for Brits. Washington DC (4.3 per cent) and Boston (3.1 per cent) complete the top five cities.
Table: The 10 most popular US states for British workers
| Rank | State | per cent of UK interest |
| 1 | California | 18.36 per cent |
| 2 | New York | 14.42 per cent |
| 3 | Florida | 7.21 per cent |
| 4 | Texas | 6.73 per cent |
| 5 | Massachusetts | 3.57 per cent |
| 6 | Illinois | 2.98 per cent |
| 7 | Pennsylvania | 2.51 per cent |
| 8 | Virginia | 2.42 per cent |
| 9 | Washington | 2.41 per cent |
| 10 | North Carolina | 2.41 per cent |
British-based workers accounted for 10.2 per cent of inbound US job searches in the two years to November 2016 but since then Britain’s share of the international contingent looking for US jobs has fallen by 18.9 per cent. The drop means Britain has the third highest share of international searches behind India and Canada, which occupy positions one and two respectively.
Science and technology sector jobs are consistently popular choices among UK workers planning a career move to the US, while strong interest in nanny and admin roles suggests many younger workers and students are hoping to combine working in the States with travelling.
Table: The 15 most popular jobs for British workers
| Rank | Job | per cent of UK interest |
| 1 | Customer service representative | 0.789 per cent |
| 2 | Administrative assistant | 0.784 per cent |
| 3 | Summer intern | 0.649 per cent |
| 4 | Babysitter/nanny | 0.636 per cent |
| 5 | Software engineer | 0.605 per cent |
| 6 | Retail sales associate | 0.603 per cent |
| 7 | Post-doctoral fellow | 0.523 per cent |
| 8 | Warehouse worker | 0.514 per cent |
| 9 | Project manager | 0.512 per cent |
| 10 | Technician | 0.480 per cent |
| 11 | Analyst | 0.466 per cent |
| 12 | Sales associate | 0.460 per cent |
| 13 | Assistant professor | 0.441 per cent |
| 14 | Data scientist | 0.438 per cent |
| 15 | Research assistant | 0.789 per cent |
“The American Dream continues to hold a powerful appeal for Britons planning an international career move,” says Bill Richards, UK managing director of Indeed. “With work/life balance a more important factor in people’s career choices, our data shows that while jobseekers start their job search with a role in mind they also think about the location and type of lifestyle they want.
“While UK interest in US jobs may have declined in recent years, the most popular roles are a mix of temporary and permanent, low and high-paying roles in sectors as varied as services, technology and academia,” he adds. “It’s clear that UK-based jobseekers still offer employers abroad diverse skill sets.
“The fall in searches could also be a sign of a buoyant labour market at home, which has seemingly defied Brexit gravity to add more jobs with unemployment at its lowest level since the 1970s,” adds Richards.
