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Expatriate spouses have hard time finding work abroad

Overseas assignments are more brisk after the recession, but accompanying spouses and partners still struggle to find work abroad, too.

An annual survey of global relocation trends found that 61 percent of companies surveyed are expecting to transfer more employees in 2011 than in recent years, higher than the historical average of 57 percent. But only 15 percent of spouses employed before going abroad were able to find overseas assignments, about 10 percent less than in 2006.

Scott Sullivan, an executive vice president of Brookfield Global Relocation Services, publishers of the annual survey, said that “trailing” spouses in the current uncertain market are especially reluctant to give up jobs — and a second income — at home because of risks to future earning potential and career development.

The lack of employment opportunities abroad for partners “wasn’t as much of a challenge to companies 20 to 30 years ago,” Sullivan said, but with the rise in dual-career couples, “it’s become a huge issue across the board.” He added, “Companies can’t find the best people to go on assignments, so the talent pool for highly skilled international employees is deteriorating.”

Yvonne McNulty, an assistant professor of international business at James Cook University’s Singapore campus who studies mobility issues, said, “The dual-career issue remains the No. 1 reason for refusing assignments.”

Some 20 years ago, financial compensation packages for expatriate families were more robust, with higher salaries and other perks like drivers, club memberships and first-class airfare for home leave so a spouse could afford not to work. Today, while packages are lower overall, “companies are being more proactive” in helping spouses find work, McNulty said.

A second survey, the 2010 Worldwide Survey of Expatriate Policies & Practices, released this month by Mercer, an international human resources management consulting firm, found that an increasing number of the more than 1,000 multinational companies polled offer some spousal support that includes job search assistance.

“It has gone from nice to have to a must-have strategic support service,” said Susan Ginsberg, vice president, global services for Ricklin-Echikson Associates, a human resources consulting firm with professional coaches in 50 countries that specializes in career and transition assistance for spouses and partners overseas. During negotiations, the offer of support can be “key to ensure that it doesn’t become a deal breaker.

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