MORE THAN a fifth of Irish people are considering moving abroad to secure better job prospects, according a Eurobarometer survey on labour mobility.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the protracted nature of the downturn here, the study found more than a third of Irish people felt employment prospects were significantly better abroad.

However, Irish people were among the least willing in Europe to move country to find work, the research found, with only 36 per cent expressing a willingness to move country or region if they lost their job and were unable to find another one.

This contrasts sharply with the 66 per cent of people in France, Sweden and Cyprus who said they would move to find work.

As a destination for migration, Ireland was favoured by 4 per cent of respondents, in contrast with other English-speaking countries such as the USA by 21 per cent and the UK by 16 per cent.

The survey found job mobility levels were higher among people from Scandinavia and the three Baltic states, where respondents were more likely to say they would move abroad in the future.

Some 21 per cent of the Irish respondents said they had previously lived or worked abroad, ranking the Irish second in Europe when it came to the experience of living abroad.

The data showed 10 per cent of Europeans have lived and worked in another country at some point in the past, whether in the EU or beyond.

Martin Territt, director of the European Commission Representation in Ireland, said finding ways of improving job mobility across Europe is key to our future economic success.

“Europeans need to feel comfortable that they have the right skills sets as well as social support to go out to where the jobs that best match their profiles are.

“This is after all what makes the US such a dynamic economy,” Territt said.