Are The Kids Moving Abroad?

Are some of the smartest best young talented Gen Y kids leaving the U.S.?

I was talking with a mother of a 23 year old son from a small town in Wisconsin I had just met.  We were discussing Gen Y.  I said, "When I asked my son how many of his friends had thought about moving abroad,"  she completed my sentence with the exact words Willie said, "All of them."

Here's a story in The Nation about why the kids might want to move abroad.

I have anecdotal evidence from these conversations with Gen Yers and their parents. But I have been unable to find any statistics on it.  We probably are just ahead of the curve, once again, and the stats will come in a year or two. But if you find something, let me know.

Photo: Jason, left; and Willie, right, two of our boys.

Comments

[D. P. Lubic]

I personally find the article a bit weak. Cutting education grants cuts off the future for the young? Maybe. But how is that related to the problem of graduates with no jobs to go to? In that respect, it might be a wise choice; why invest in an education for some fool who won't have a job to use it at?

Actually, that tells us we have some serious problems.

The whole business suggests there is a lack of opportunity in the future, at least as we have been thinking of it. I see this as our technological society as a whole hitting a wall of diminishing returns.

Cars, for instance, are greatly improved over what was available back in 1950, and even over 1990, but they don't take you anywhere faster than you could go in 1990 either; in fact, it's possible your trip will be slower because of congestion, and certainly more expensive. There is also the problem of having more cars on the road than drivers; how many do we need?

The same can be said for houses. About the only real change for kitchens since about 1940 has been air conditioning and the microwave oven; everything else--all those built-in cabinets, mechanical refrigerators, package ovens and stoves running on gas or electricity--were common in at least new construction by then. I don't think you would want to open up a new factory to make air conditioners or plumbing fixtures today; that job's already been done.

What's left, and in particular, what's left that can't be outsourced? Well, that sounds like a lot of the problem-solving jobs you've suggested. The education and skills would range from those of a doctor to those of a tradesman, like a plumber. General small business that cater to a specialized or local crowd (i.e., a hobby shop in the first case, an organic grocery in the second) are constant exercises in problem solving. So is agriculture.

There is the potential for skilled labor to build and operate the rail passenger system we both think this nation needs, if we ever get around to doing so.

However, that rail system also illustrates the problem of building up the latest version of the new economy. There are people (i.e., the oil and road interests) with money, enough of it to give them real power, who don't want to see the competition. You can bet this bunch has allies in the financial sector; think of banks that won't be making car loans, and insurance companies that won't be selling car insurance. All these business could well see a rail revival as a threat.

The combination of diminishing returns for our society and the institutional roadblocks of the powerful could well be worse for limiting opportunity than any socialist program.

I wish I had some good answers, but I'm just a little person with no real voice of authority.

Having said that, you might be interested in the link below:

http://www.donkeylicious.com/2011/05/crazy-tea-party-rally-picture.html

[William Draves]

D.P, thanks for all your comments. In reply, there are plenty of jobs for people with college degrees.

Anthony Carnevale, the nation's leading training authority, predicts a shortage of skilled workers approaching 14 million by 2017. NOT a shortage of jobs, a shortage of workers. We already have a shortage of workers, which is why we have a H1B1 visa program to import college educated boys to work here, instead of graduating our own boys.