A Reluctance to Relocate

Thanks for the great article about Europeans’ reluctance to relocate… This barrier is a problem when it comes to flexibility and adaptability in employment because of our different historical backgrounds. It will take time for people to change their attitudes to job possibilities in other EU countries and the need to move. When I was in the States, I was surprised to learn that the average American lives in up to four different states in the course of a lifetime. We Europeans are still a long way from such a cosmopolitan lifestyle and we are definitely not yet the “big melting pot” of nations. Instead, we are still a patchwork of many nations that retain their individual character and national identity. Unlike the States, Europe is not a behemoth with one language, so relocating for employment reasons is not common here except for the minority that has the training and higher education.

Source: A letter from Prader hans Leibnitz, Austria // Newsweek. – December 20, 2004. – p. 10

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You are right, we aren’t made for walking. It’s true, too, that to move to any European country, you need to speak its language. But we could, and don’t move inside our own countries. A big mistake. The Catalan government has made it obligatory for kids to learn English at school. It’s a start, until arrogant countries like France understand that English must be our common language.

Source: A letter from Micky Ricart, Barcelona, Spain // Newsweek. – December 20, 2004. – p. 10

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Stefan Theil is wrong: nobody in Germany or Europe needs workers from Bochum or Rüsselsheim. And moving to Poland and working for Polish wages makes no sense for people from Western Europe. Do you think people in America would move to the South for lower wages and a lower standard of living (as we have in Eastern Europe)? Finally, unlike in America, every state in Europe speaks its own language and has a unique culture. If you have nothing to do with that, it’s easy to walk away from it.

Source: A letter from George Fisher, Weissach, Germany//Newsweek. – December 20, 2004. – p. 10

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You ask us to imagine a prospective worker prohibited from working until he gets his official qualification from the country where he moved by comparing this to a move from Michigan to Florida. But this comparison makes no sense: Michigan and Florida are in the same country. How about moving from Detroit to Mexico City, or from St. Louis to Montreal? These cities are all in the same NAFTA region. But are the professional qualifications of that hypothetical worker recognized the way they’d be for the worker moving from Michigan to Florida?

Source: A letter from Atsushi Taira, Takamatsu, Japan // Newsweek. – December 20, 2004. – p. 10

Text # 19

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