Amsterdam is 9th most popular city globally for European workers

Amsterdam came in 9th place in the global ranking of European workers’ favored cities to work in. Over 2 million European workers named Amsterdam as one of their preferred cities to work in, according to a survey by the Intelligence Group.

Intelligence Group surveyed 99,175 individuals in Europe about the cities they’d like to work in. The respondents mentioned over 600 cities.

The over 2 million people that listed Amsterdam as a preferred workplace make up 6.48 percent of the internationally mobile European working population. Forty percent of this group is younger than 35 years old. Employees from Poland, Greece, and Slovenia have a higher than average preference for Amsterdam, while Latvians, French, and Swedes find the Dutch capital less attractive than average.

The most preferred jobs in Amsterdam are administration (17%), finance (10%), and IT (8%) - all above average compared to the other cities. People looking for nursing (1%), veterinarian (1%), and board or management (1%) percent are least likely to pick Amsterdam.

“Amsterdam is the Netherlands’ most important magnet on the international labor market. Relatively more attractive than the Netherlands, which is in 12th place in terms of popularity score,” said Geert-Jan Waasdorp, CEO of Intelligence Group.

According to Waasdorp, cities’ popularity is almost separate from their country’s. “For example, Germany is more popular than England, but London is much more popular than Berlin.” New York previously consistently scored well above London, but the American city’s popularity dipped given the changing political environment and the pandemic, he said.

Netherlands residents who want to work abroad would most like to go to London, followed by Barcelona, New York, Berlin, and Paris.

The top 10 favored cities to work in for European workers:

1. London
2. New York
3. Paris
4. Berlin
5. Barcelona
6. Madrid
7. Sydney
8. Rome
9. Amsterdam
10. Vienna