Where people work is changing – and that’s a big financial opportunity

Technology is changing who businesses hire. AI is reshaping which skills are most in demand, not only because it can automate some roles, but because it changes how businesses function. Demand for technical AI skills is rising, and AI is also creating new kinds of roles across the wider workforce.

It’s changing where businesses hire, too. As leaders look beyond traditional economic hubs, the consequences will be significant for businesses and economies alike.

Earlier this year, we surveyed 3,250 hiring leaders, and 97.7% said AI adoption has already changed where they hire. Within that figure, 40% have opened operations in new countries to reach AI talent. Once a business can hire in a new country for AI skills, it can use that same ability for any role.

The global hiring map is being fundamentally redrawn. This is a lasting shift, not a passing trend. In December 2025, the European Commission set out its Quality Jobs Roadmap, paving the way for a Quality Jobs Act expected by the end of 2026. 

Algorithmic management and AI at work is a named priority, an acknowledgement that technology is changing the labour market for the long term. The Act will also cover workers’ rights and health and safety.

New employment models can support this kind of international hiring. For instance, Employer of Record (EOR) services let businesses hire people in countries where they have no legal entity, while keeping every arrangement compliant with local laws.

Hiring beyond the capital

In May, the EU launched its Right to Stay strategy, which aims to let people live anywhere in the EU rather than relocate to major economic centres. Both it and the Quality Jobs Act remain in development, but we don’t need to wait for the outcomes to see why Europe has made this a priority.

What we see is that workers employed through Remote’s EOR in capital regions earn 142% above the national average salary. Those outside capital regions earn 135% above it. That near-parity shows that when businesses can hire anywhere, they find highly skilled talent everywhere.

It also shows who benefits. Skilled early-career workers are usually the most likely to relocate for work, which is the core of the ‘brain drain’ that regional economies suffer. Yet in our EOR data, 68.9% of workers aged 18-34 live outside capital regions.

Across the EU, 60% of our EOR workforce lives outside national capitals. Their earnings, and the spending they support, stay in those communities. Because the contracts are locally compliant, they also generate income tax and social security contributions for national systems. Internationally sourced employment becomes locally retained value.

The wider effect is easy to overlook. When a quality job can be done from a smaller city or rural region, pressure eases on the housing, transport and public services of big urban centres. Skilled, well-paid work reaches places that have long lacked it. Where a job can be done is no longer just an HR decision, it shapes where people can afford to build a life. 

The opportunity is already here

The Right to Stay strategy covers many of the conditions that keep people in their regions, but work is at its core. However good local amenities are, people follow opportunity. If quality jobs are only in urban centres, eventually the people will be too. As EU Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto put it, “leaving should always be a free choice – never a necessity driven by a lack of opportunities”.

We hope EU policy will recognise EOR as a valuable tool for creating quality jobs in more places. Setting up in a new market can take months of administration, by which point the talent may have gone. EOR lets businesses hire, onboard and pay employees in days, without having to master each country’s employment and tax rules.

At Remote, we contribute to the EU’s employment initiatives, both directly and as a member of the Global Employment Innovation Organisation. But we know leading businesses are not waiting for legislation to act.

European businesses can get ahead by treating their workforce as global by default. Competition for talent is moving away from the infrastructure that businesses have spent a long time building. Those that can quickly hire and pay people anywhere will be best positioned to win the financial benefits of the global talent pool.