Four months ago, as Britain endured the wettest August on record and the credit crunch began to bite, Joe Dische boarded a plane to Australia. Within weeks the hour-long commutes on packed Tube trains, the rain and the threat of job cuts were distant memories. He now manages Vodafone’s Australian commercial-analysis team and spends his evenings enjoying sports or walking on the beach with his wife.

“It was evident there were economic problems on the horizon in the UK when I left,” said Dische. “But in Australia the job market was still buoyant and I was surprised at the number of jobs available. My decision was influenced largely by the better quality of life, but I think the economic outlook in Sydney is definitely a lot stronger. People here are beginning to feel a bit worried by the slowdown but the storm hasn’t really hit.”

Back in Britain, however, growing numbers are following in Dische’s footsteps. This week a total of 5,000 job cuts have been announced by Virgin Media, Yell, Glaxo Smith Kline and JCB; a further 3,000 jobs will go from the Royal Bank of Scotland, 10,000 from BT and thousands more from the London offices of Citigroup, which is axing 52,000 worldwide, on top of 23,000 so far this year.

Official figures last week revealed that in the three months to September unemployment was at an 11-year high of 1.82m.

For those willing to settle outside the UK, there has never seemed to be a better time to move. Research by recruitment consultancy Harvey Nash this month has found that 49% of British employers are concerned their highly trained, professional workers are looking for career opportunities abroad, with 72% of respondents blaming poor economic conditions and the high cost of living.

Andrew Norton, managing director of the financial-servic-es business at international recruitment firm Michael Page, said: “We’ve seen a dramatic increase in inquiries about jobs overseas since August. As soon as the scale of the slowdown became apparent, people were asking about opportunities in the more attractive climates of Australia, New Zealand and South America as well as the Middle and Far East.”

The United Arab Emirates, and Dubai in particular, have attracted a lot of interest, according to Spencer Hawkes, managing director of the UK office of Working In, which runs exhibitions on working in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Dubai. “Middle Eastern recruitment companies are telling us there’s a 300% rise in the number of inquiries from European candidates,” he said.

“People who’ve lost their jobs and have very high mortgages view the Gulf states as one of the few places they can go and still earn top salaries. The Gulf Corporation Council has something like $2.75 trillion (£1.85 trillion) to spend over the next three years and they need people in every sector, from construction to sales and HR.”

One of the beneficiaries of the boom in the Middle East is Myk Baxter, 25.

He moved to Dubai from Newcastle two months ago and sells web advertising for Recruit Gulf, the agency he first approached to help find him work.

“It was getting very difficult to find the right opportunities in sales at home,” he said.

“At first it was quite tough making the transition, but now I don’t miss anything about the UK. Life out here is so much better. I live 15 minutes’ walk from the beach and there’s a great expat community. The economic problems in the UK aren’t really affecting us here.”

For bankers, though – even those based in the Middle East – that bubble has finally burst. However, Robert Watsham at executive-search firm Odgers Ray & Berndtson said there were still opportunities for the best performers. He is in Bah-rain this month supporting the expansion of the Dubai office into the northern Gulf.

“This place is driven by petro-dollars and there’s still plenty of oil,” he said. “There are indigenous banks and multinat-ionals down here and even though many banks have put a freeze on recruitment until the end of the year, everyone has an appetite for good talent.”

The exodus of talent from Britain is not limited to the Gulf states and the Antipodes. Research by the executive-career website Experteer found that 8% of senior executives were relocating within Europe to escape the effects of the credit crunch here.

“The UK is slightly ahead with its recession, so other European countries seem a better option,” said Experteer’s Torsten Muth. “The credit crunch seems to be encouraging higher earners to relocate, and Switzerland is the most popular place to go. Tax-free earnings are an obvious draw when the cost of living is rising so much in Britain.”

With forecasters now in agreement that UK unemployment figures will reach 2m by Christmas, the pull of better prospects abroad will only grow stronger.

Some 88,000 people have already paid to attend Spencer Hawkes’s Working In expos this year and many of those will receive job offers from foreign employers.

Dische has never looked back. “I’m so glad I made the move when I did,” he said. “Aus-tralia is a resource-led economy and traditionally it copes with downturns a bit better than the UK, which is more reliant on London-based financial services. The weather is great, the attitude to family is better, and there’s a healthier outlook on life in general.

“I can’t rule out heading home one day, but for now I have no desire to return.”

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