BCG review of Global Talent Mobility in 2025 and Considering Top Priorities moving into 2026

Global Talent Mobility in 2025: The Great Reshuffling (and What It Means for You)

Well, that was fast. For the first time since the pandemic, global talent mobility is actually shrinking. According to new research from Boston Consulting Group and the Center for Global Development, the cross-border movement of highly-skilled professionals declined 8.5 percent year-on-year as of August 2025—roughly 220,000 fewer people on the move.

But before you panic, here's the interesting part: it's not that the global war for talent has cooled off. It's that the battlefield has moved. Tighter migration rules in Canada and the UK, softer hiring conditions, and economic uncertainty have all played a part. In short, competition for talent has not diminished, but it is concentrating in fewer places. 

So Who's Winning?

The US strengthens its dominant position, gaining 2.4 points of global inflow share—and an even bigger jump in STEM talent. No surprise there. The real headline is that the Gulf states are having a moment. The UAE attracted nearly 178,000 highly skilled professionals in 2025, ranking among the top three destinations for STEM, AI, and highly skilled talent. Meanwhile, Canada and the UK—long-time favorites—are watching their market share slip away.

What Mobility Leaders Are Actually Focused On in 2026

These macro trends track with what we're hearing on the ground. In Plus Relocation's 2026 Global Mobility Trends and Insights Survey, mobility professionals told us exactly what's keeping them up at night—and what they're prioritizing to stay ahead:

1. Employee Experience (57%) This one's been at the top for a while, and it's not going anywhere. When global competition for high-skill talent intensifies, the experience you deliver becomes your edge. That means getting ahead of cost-of-living surprises, housing headaches, and family concerns before they derail a move. Transparency and flexibility aren't nice-to-haves anymore—they're table stakes.

2. Elevating Program Visibility (51%) Here's a new one: for the first time ever, "getting a seat at the table" cracked our top three. Mobility leaders are tired of only hearing from the C-suite when something goes wrong. The goal for 2026? Show the strategic value of what you do—before you're asked to defend your budget.

3. Streamlining Processes (49%) Let's be honest: nobody went into mobility because they love manual data entry and chasing approvals. With teams stretched thin, the need to rethink how we operate has never been more urgent. Time to audit those workflows, kill the redundancies, and let technology do the heavy lifting.

4. Containing Costs (46%) Economic uncertainty isn't going away anytime soon, and neither is the pressure on budgets. The trick is cutting costs without cutting corners on employee experience. Data-driven decisions, smarter policy tiers, and honest conversations about what moves are truly business-critical—that's the playbook.

5. Adopting Technology & AI (46%) Nearly half of mobility pros are making tech adoption a priority this year. That's a big shift from the "we'll get to it eventually" mindset of years past. AI isn't coming for your job—but it might just save you from drowning in spreadsheets. Start small, prove value, then scale.

The Bottom Line

About 2.4 million highly skilled individuals still changed countries last year. Global mobility isn't going away—it's just getting more interesting. Nations with proactive hiring ecosystems, flexible migration policies, and strong education pipelines will be best positioned to win—and the same goes for companies.