Talent in the AI and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) pools are becoming increasingly mobile around the globe and seeking out new regions for their expertise.

Those are the findings of the Top Talent Tracker, Q4 2024 research from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which covers more than 200 countries and over 200 million highly-skilled workers.

BCG found that over the past 12 months, around 1.2% of highly-skilled workers moved abroad, a decline from previous years driven by higher interest rates and a slowdown in hiring growth in software and services.

Comparatively, talent with AI (2.2%) and STEM (1.9%) expertise was twice as mobile in the same period.

Talking exclusively to UNLEASH, BCG Partner and Associate Director, Innovation, Johann Harnoss says that AI and STEM talent has higher mobility due, in part, to “vast gaps in net salary and workplace opportunities across countries.”

“There is a growing awareness of these opportunity gaps among STEM and AI talent, in part thanks to the experience made during covid which brough remote work to the forefront,” Harnoss explains. 

 This brings challenges and opportunities for HR and Talent Acquisition leaders. The opportunity lies in an ever-growing, high-quality global labor pool.”

Harnoss also highlights that BCG sees a “small set of extremely productive or well-funded firms, typically in the finance, software and GenAI space, set a high anchor for total compensation (incl. equity components) in STEM, particularly AI.”

Employers that can’t or won’t compete on total compensation must increasingly invest in setting up for remote or flexible working, creating opportunities for talent to “work on exciting projects that foster personal growth”, he adds.

AI talent migration trends are changing – the Middle East is growing in popularity

The challenge for HR and Talent Acquisition leaders, Harnoss believes, lies in retaining their top AI and STEM talent – particularly for those hiring outside North America and parts of Europe and the Middle East.

The US (20%), the UK (11%) and Canada (10%) remained the hot spots for AI and STEM talent over the past 12 months, however the Middle East – specifically the United Arab Emirates (8%) and Saudi Arabia (4%) – and Australia (6%) are beginning the close the gap.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia saw the highest increase in talent migration over the past year (1.4% and 1.3% respectively), while the US and the UK both recorded declining levels of new talent arriving.

Overall, nearly one in three AI experts that moved in the past 12 months went to the Middle East.

Harnoss tells UNLEASH that the Middle East has become an “attractive regional hotspot” for a growing number of top talents from emerging markets, such as Egypt, Pakistan and Nigeria, among others.

As such, the Middle East proposes a more attractive proposition for talent than the traditionally popular  countries, in part due to “closer cultural ties and existing migrant diasporas”, Harnoss explains.

Countries in the Middle East have also been investing into their livability, which makes their largest cities largely comparable to other big cities worldwide from a healthcare and education perspective – provided people are working and are able to fund such services that are often privatized,” he adds.

Employers need to adapt to attract top AI and STEM talent

As talent with in-demand skills, like AI and other technologies, increasingly looks at the global world of work, so too must employers.

While much of the talent conversation takes place on a global level, particularly given the rise of remote and hybrid working, Harnoss notes there are still “huge segments” of employers limiting themselves to local or national labor markets.

“More often than not, these are large, economically successful incumbent players in their own industries,” he explains.

“Going global beyond requires a credible globally-appealing employer brand, possibly even sub-brands dedicated to STEM or AI talent, and digitally enabled recruiting processes that support remote recruitment. 

“Top STEM or AI talent will not travel internationally for a first round job interview.”

Looking ahead, Harnoss states that while social and economic changes are the primary drivers for talent turning away from the leading regions, it is “still very early” for this trend and anticipates “more quantifiable results on this” in future editions of the research.

However, he does highlight that those regions doing more to attract AI and STEM talent over the past 12 months are likely to continue to reap the benefits next year and beyond.

“The Middle East for example, through more attractive visa regulations, by attracting fast growing startups, and by offering opportunities for wealth creation thanks to low- or no-income taxes,” he adds.

With these incentivized programs showing no signs of slowing down in the new year, I expect we’ll continue to see this trend grow in 2025.”