Record numbers of Britons move to Australia
September 01 2009 by Rebekah Nahai
More Australia visas for Britons
A combination of the credit crunch and a dreary summer seems to be prompting record numbers of Britons to move to Australia.
Recruitment consultancy Hays, which operates both in the UK and in Australia, has reported a 20% increase in the number of Australia visa applications from Britons hoping to work abroad.
Alistair Cox, Hays’ chief executive, told The Times that Australia’s employment landscape offers better prospects than the UK climate of rising unemployment.
“There has been a downturn over there, too, but Australia is in better shape,” he said. “It entered into recession later but has come out earlier. The job market is tough, but there are still more opportunities than there are here.”
Prospects for employment in the UK are looking increasingly bleak, with one in six households officially classed as “workless”. UK unemployment is currently at a 14-year high of 2.4 million and is expected to increase to 3 million next year.
In 2008, approximately 158,000 British citizens made the move to Australia. This is an increase of 24% on 2007 and the numbers look set to keep rising.
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