How has a strong US labor market and a volatile political situation affected global interest in US tech jobs? A steady share of job seekers living abroad is clicking on US tech postings, even as interest has declined from India, by far the largest source of foreign clicks on tech jobs. And the tech jobs workers abroad are most keen on are difficult-to-fill, highly-paid positions in software development and engineering.

In early 2019, the foreign share of clicks on US tech job postings on Indeed.com edged up from 9.3% in the first quarter of 2018 to 9.6% in the first quarter of 2019. For context, the share of foreign clicks on US tech jobs is below the foreign click share of around 15% on Canadian tech jobs in February 2019.

Share of foreign clicks on US tech job postings
Line graph titled “Share of foreign clicks on US tech job postings.” With a vertical axis ranging from 6 to 12 percent, Indeed tracked the share of foreign clicks on US tech job postings between January 2018 and March 31 2019. Foreign share of clicks on US tech job postings rose from 9.3% in the first quarter of 2018 to 9.6% in the first quarter of 2019. Caption added post-publication.

When it comes to foreign clicks on US tech jobs, there’s India and then there’s everyplace else. In the year ended April 1, 2019, 3.7% of all clicks on US tech jobs came from IP addresses in India. Canada was far behind at 0.6%, followed by the UK at 0.4%.

India has the most foreign clicks on US tech jobs
Bar graph titled “India has the most foreign clicks on US tech jobs.” Indeed compared foreign clicks from IP addresses in 20 other countries as a percent of all tech clicks between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019, along a horizontal axis ranging from 0 to 4%. 3.7% of all clicks on US tech jobs came from IP addresses in India. Caption added post-publication.

Of the top 10 countries by clicks on US tech jobs, Germany, France, and Russia had the largest year-over-year increases in their shares of all tech clicks, each up more than 25% in the first quarter of 2019. However, India was down 8% year-over-year, while Pakistan fell 37% and the UK 12%.

Fastest-growing countries by clicks on US tech jobs
Bar graph titled “Fastest-growing countries by clicks on US tech jobs.” Indeed compared the percent change in share of clicks on US tech jobs of the top 10 countries by clicks. Germany, France, and Russia had the largest year-over-year increases in their shares of all tech clicks, each up more than 25% in the first quarter of 2019. Caption added post-publication.

French interest surged from September through December 2018, starting before the Yellow Vests movement, which flared up most dramatically in November.

Developer jobs receiving the highest foreign interest

The tech jobs most clicked on by foreign job seekers in the first quarter of 2019 were all developer and engineer roles. Many specialized, software-intensive positions dominate the list. About 44% of clicks on senior Java developer postings came from abroad. And whether it’s Python or PHP, Android or iOS, highly skilled programmers from abroad are clicking on US job postings at rates between 27% and 38%. By comparison, of the 571 tech job titles studied, the median foreign click share was 8.7%.

High foreign interest in software developer jobs.
Table titled “High foreign interest in software developer jobs.” Indeed listed the tech jobs with the highest foreign click share in quarter 1, 2019, with a minimum of 50,000 clicks. The tech jobs most clicked on by foreign job seekers in the first quarter of 2019 were all developer and engineer roles. Caption added post-publication.

On the flip side, the tech jobs that drew the least interest from foreigners included technician and support roles, as well as some analyst and manager positions. For the most part, these tech jobs require fewer technical skills and less education. A meager 1.6% of clicks on entry-level IT technician came from foreign IP addresses. Other technical support or help desk positions had foreign click shares below 3%, well below the median foreign share of clicks on tech roles.

Foreign interest lower for tech support, technician roles
Table titled “Foreign interest lower for tech support, technician roles.” Indeed listed the tech jobs with the lowest foreign click share in quarter 1, 2019, with a minimum of 50,000 clicks. Tech jobs that drew the least interest from foreigners included technician and support roles, as well as some analyst and manager positions. Caption added post-publication.

Foreign interest appears to be highest for difficult-to-fill tech jobs. One measure of this is a job title’s average clicks per posting. The higher the clicks per posting, the greater the number of potential applicants. There is a clear relationship between a higher foreign click share and a lower clicks-per-posting ratio. In the chart below, clicks per posting has been normalized (see methodology section for details).

Tough-to-fill jobs have more foreign clicks
A scatter chart titled “Tough-to-fill jobs have more foreign clicks.” With a vertical axis ranging from 0 to 8, Indeed tracked the average clicks per posting vs, foreign click share between January 1, 2019 and March 31, 2019, along a horizontal axis ranging from 0% to 50%. There is a clear relationship between a higher foreign click share and a lower clicks-per-posting ratio. Caption added post-publication.

Similarly, tech jobs with higher average salaries also had higher foreign click shares. This relationship may reflect visa requirements. Visas, such as the H-1B, are expensive to process. To make it worthwhile to an employer, these workers should be highly skilled and worth the cost.

Foreigners typically click on higher-paying tech jobs
A scatter chart titled “Foreigners typically click on higher-paying tech jobs.” With a vertical axis ranging from $40,000 to $120,000, Indeed tracked the average salary vs. foreign click share between January 1, 2019, and March 31, 2019, along a horizontal axis ranging from 0% to 50%. Tech jobs with higher average salaries also had higher foreign click shares. Caption added post-publication.

Despite the strident debate over immigration in the US, the growth of foreign interest in US tech jobs seems to have held steady over the past year. And, luckily for US-based businesses, these foreign job seekers are interested in tech roles that see fewer clicks. Without foreign job seeker interest in these difficult-to-fill tech jobs, employers would probably have to make big adjustments to find suitable candidates.

Methodology

Foreign clicks are defined as those coming from IP addresses outside the US. We used a list of 571 job titles to identify tech job postings. Only postings based in the US and in English were considered. We looked at the overall foreign and specific country click share on tech jobs from January 1, 2018 through March 31, 2019.

For specific tech job titles, the time period was from January 1, 2019 through March 31, 2019. Tech jobs were only analyzed if they had a minimum of 50,000 total clicks. For salaries, tech jobs needed a minimum of 100 job postings with an estimated salary. The clicks-per-postings measure was normalized to 1.0, based on the weighted average of the clicks-per-posting measure for all tech job titles (weighting by clicks).