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As signs grow of an economic slowdown in Britain, about 34,000 expatriate Australians are seeking to return home in search of work.

But according to a leading recruiter, they will have to compete with three times as many Europeans who also want to capitalise on the strong Australian economy.

This week, Link Recruitment launched its first seminars in London for professionals seeking work here, after research by the firm found that each year, 34,000 Australians plan to return home.

A further 110,000 British and European professionals are also seeking work in Australia, said Link's international recruitment manager, Mehreen Dakhan.

In the City of London, about 6500 job cuts in financial services alone are expected in the next six months as companies seek to recover ground lost in the credit crunch, estimates by the Centre for Economics and Business Research indicate.

This uncertainty appears to be feeding through to the Australian market, where Link has registered a 14% drop in applications for work in Britain.

However, others argue that more jobs will be added than lost in London. Sarah Bloomfield, an economist with the centre, said: "It will feel worse than it actually is because the City has become used to adding jobs at breakneck speed."

But Ms Dakhan said recruiters were shifting their focus from finding jobs for Australians in London to placing expatriates and Europeans — "but particularly Brits" — in Australia.

The research says 65% of Australians returning home cited job offers or the desire for better employment opportunities as their main reason for moving.

This will be welcome news for the Government and employers seeking to plug the skills gap.

Ms Dakhan said Australia's economy and its increasingly international outlook, and foreign firms opening bases here, were making it more attractive to overseas workers.