SThree has launched their first STEM Workforce Report, a global study conducted in collaboration with polling agency YouGov, surveying over 5,000 STEM professionals across six major economies. The report offers a detailed look at how talent mobility, skills shortages, and shifting workforce dynamics are impacting innovation in the USA, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, and the UAE. From rising international competition to the growing influence of AI, the findings reveal critical challenges and opportunities facing STEM employers today.
Among its insights, the report reveals the extent of talent poaching across six of the world’s largest and most influential STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) economies – the USA, Japan, UK, Germany, Netherlands and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
More than one in three (35 per cent) of the 5,391 STEM professionals surveyed have been approached by rival companies about an overseas role in the past year. One in five (19 per cent) plan to, or are in the process of, moving abroad, with over half of that group (57 per cent) having already accepted new roles. This trend suggests as much as 11 per cent of the global STEM workforce could be on the move within the next 12 months.
“We should not underestimate the seismic changes in skills and workforce development taking place,” said Timo Lehne, CEO of SThree. “Governments are both stepping up investment into tech industries, and raising the benchmark for entry, in a bid to attract the very best talent as countries race to become the next scientific superpower.
“All the major STEM nations are betting on scientists, engineers, innovators and technologists to power their economies,” he added. “This is resulting in huge movements of people, mostly top, technical talent attracted to roles in developed STEM economies.”
Fierce competition for scientists, engineers and technologists is fuelled by the international rise of protectionist trade and industrial policies and massive public investment in technology sectors.
US tariffs, export controls and investment-screening rules are designed to keep high-tech manufacturing on home soil. Japan has followed suit, tightening oversight of foreign involvement and launching a ¥10 trillion ($65 billion) Science and Technology Sovereignty Fund to boost domestic R&D. The EU, meanwhile, aims to double its share of global chip production through the €43 billion European Chips Act, while the UK’s Advanced Manufacturing Plan and Germany’s green-tech subsidies underscore a wider race for technological self-sufficiency.
The STEM Workforce Report highlights both the number of professionals weighing up opportunities overseas and the impact this talent drain is already having inside organisations. Almost half (49 per cent) said their organisations struggled to replace departed colleagues in the past year, and four in five (81 per cent) said the impact of losing key colleagues to other countries was severe or moderate – with critical projects delayed.
The findings reveal a stark divide between countries exporting talent and those holding on to it. In the UAE, more than half (53 per cent) of professionals are considering or planning a move overseas, with the Netherlands (47 per cent) and Germany (44 per cent) close behind.
By contrast, Japan retains its talent, with only 7 per cent open to leaving and more than nine in ten (93 per cent) intending to stay. The UK (37 per cent) and US (32 per cent) sit between the extremes, with around a third of professionals open to relocation.
Lehne added: “STEM professionals are among the most highly coveted experts in the working world. They are moving not only for higher pay, but also for quality of life, career development and balance. Competitiveness is no longer just about salaries, it’s about creating the conditions where people want to build their futures.
“STEM-leading economies need to prepare for this impending talent trade. Skilled professionals now have the power to choose where they live and work, and they are exercising that choice. Countries that recognise this and create attractive, open and supportive environments will not only retain their brightest people but also draw talent from elsewhere. Those that fail to adapt risk becoming training grounds for their rivals, investing in skills only to see them drive innovation in other economies,” Timo concluded.
