It’s certainly hard to ignore the USA at the moment, as the country is making headlines across the globe – not always for the right reasons. However, it’s a popular destination for British expats, due to its similarities in culture, business practice and lifestyle, not to mention a common language. Many transatlantic companies offer opportunities for workers to relocate to the American side of the business, so there is a good expat community on arrival.
When considering a move to any country as an expat, there are concerns, and making sure that there is a stable job market is one of them. Even when moving with a position already in place, it is worth being aware of the economy and the predicted market movement to ensure that the position is stable and will continue to offer career progression and opportunities.
It’s also important when moving with family, to look at the conditions for finding a job in other areas, if a partner or other family member will be looking for work after relocation.

Specialised occupations

A recent report from global leader in human capital solutions, CareerBuilder, forecasts the US job market and is a good indicator of the general direction that things are currently moving in. It shows that there are plenty of opportunities available across a range of industries, and wages are increasing across all levels. It also says, and of most interest to potential expatriates, employees will “continue to look at talent pools outside the US” for specialised occupations.
The technology industry, in particular, is known for using H-1B visa to recruit internationally for employees with specialist skills, when no one suitable can be sourced domestically. The number of applicants accepted each year via this method is capped, and they are usually allocated quickly at the start of the year. This helps to keep the technology industry cutting edge, as there is a cited skills shortage in this area for high-demand positions.
However, recent news reports suggest that this may be about to change, with President Donald Trump allegedly looking to change this type of temporary work visa. It’s not currently known what such an executive order could entail, for example lowering the cap or making it harder to get applications approved, but should it happen, this could have a huge impact on many sectors in the US job market.
The potential order may also affect L-1 Intra-company Transferees visa, which is for used employees of international companies who are transferred to a US-based branch. Of course, nothing is certain in this area, and while there remains a skills gap in the USA for high-level positions, there will continue to be a need to recruit qualified and experienced workers across a range of different industries.

Promising job growth

The Bureau of Labor Statistics from the United States Department of Labor publishes details of the occupations with the most job growth. This is a good guide for expats, especially those moving with family where a partner might be looking for a job after relocation, as it shows industries where there could be openings.
Those in the medical profession, for example, and in customer service positions, are among the jobs seeing the best job growth both now and projected into the future. Other areas include administration, software development and analysts across a number of fields.
For now, job growth and recruitment is set to remain stable, which is good news for British expats planning a Stateside relocation, though it remains to be seen what the affect will be on certain working visas and how this will change the job market going forward.
If you’re moving to the USA, find out how our international removals team can help to arrange packing, storage and transportation on your behalf.