Worker Mobility Poll

by asdf Sun Oct 30th, 2005 at 08:15:34 PM EST

In a recent discussion
http://www.eurotrib.com/comments/2005/10/29/04223/086/45#45
I suggested that worker mobility in Europe might be less than in the U.S.

Out of curiosity, perhaps a EuroTrib poll might be enlightening...

You might have moved to a different country in the past year, or in the past ten years.

You might live in Europe, America, or Somewhere Else...

Poll

Votes: 14
Results	\|	Other Polls

Worker Mobility Poll | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

Students count as workers too! :-)

by asdf on Sun Oct 30th, 2005 at 08:16:44 PM EST

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

I don't fit your poll. I used to live in other countries, but that is longer than 10 years ago.

by Fran on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 02:40:47 AM EST

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

Same here. Tough, when I lived abroad (two-and-a-half in then Yugoslavia and two in then West Germany), I was a child - I didn't move since I am part of the workforce.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 10:13:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

I lived for periods longer than one year in

West Germany
Scotland
Italy
The Netherlands
Belgium
East Germany
Nicaragua
Dominican Republic

and worked on job assignments in the US, Costa Rica, France, Spain, Portugal and in most of the 10 new EU Member States.

"The USA appears destined by fate to plague America with misery in the name of liberty." Simon Bolivar, Caracas, 1819

by Ritter on Tue Nov 1st, 2005 at 03:04:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

Spanish: I spent one year studying abroad 10 years ago. Then 5 years ago I moved to the US, then I came back (to Europe, but not to Spain) less than a year ago.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 06:58:37 AM EST

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

BTW, on your original point: I think the EU has less worker mobility, but not due to laws that limit the freedom of moving: instead, it's people's attachment to their home and local culture (the USA was uniformised with suburbanisation, and for practical purposes has a single language), and stronger defenses against being forced to move (by economic necessities or job-center demands).

I think what would be needed to give up to have US levels of mobility is moch more valuable than potential gains in economic growth and social budget deficit cuts (where the latter is IMO questionable).

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 10:19:59 AM EST

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

Yes, the legal barriers are much lower than they used to be. But language and social differences are much more difficult to overcome. That's my point.

by asdf on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 10:30:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

American who moved to Europe 14 months ago.

But...I have lived in something like 44 diferent places in my life...in my first 18 years my family lived in 22 different homes, then I kept on mving after, though many of these have all been in the same town.

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

by whataboutbob on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 10:26:00 AM EST

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

I lived in the same home for 20 years of my life (and my family is still there) and then I lived in four different places (in the same city) in 4 years and a bit that I spent in the US. There is something about the US that keeps people moving around.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 10:40:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

America is very homogenous compared to Europe...and its history is pretty nomadic...always chasing after the newest place to get rich (or simply find a job). Even the original inhabitants were nomadic (for the most part, anyway). Europe is so uniquely different from one country to the next (or in Switzerland, one Kanton and region to the next!)

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

by whataboutbob on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 11:56:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

Oh, and I might add, I commute two days a week by train to a city 2.5 hours away...which is a regular commute on a bad traffic day in many US cities...but I travel across half of Switzerland in that time. My Swiss friends are a bit aghast at my commute...

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

by whataboutbob on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 01:38:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

I've tried to add more answers to the poll to cover the "hasn't moved" case but I can't get the changes to take effect. Help!

by asdf on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 10:29:04 AM EST

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

Did some changes. Hope that's what you had in mind...
If you have more choices in mind, do tell me...

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 11:01:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

Yes, thank you. Was I supposed to be able to do that, or is it a limitation of the system?

by asdf on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 12:30:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

In order to get a sense of what you are trying to measure no need to add questions about those who stayed put. Otherwise it is only measuring half the choices.

Policies not Politics
---- Daily Landscape

by rdf (robert.feinman@gmail.com) on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 10:43:27 AM EST

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

It is a little bit misleading to compare Europe with the US. Despite the fact that European borders are now open, and the integration has taken a firm hold on the continent, Europe still consists of largely single-ethnicity countries with very strong bonds to the land, traditions, and customs. True, immigration has increased dramatically, as has movement between countries, but this is a process that takes time. America has been a largely homogenous and integrated countries consisting of immigrants for its entire history. I think we are comparing apples and oranges here.
At the same time, however, I must point out that moving within Europe and finding work is not any more difficult than it would be in the United States.

Mikhail from SF

by Tsarrio (dj_tsar@yahoo.com) on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 12:44:04 PM EST

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

moving within Europe and finding work is not any more difficult than it would be in the United States.

Well, you have to speak the language of the place you're moving to. You have to learn to drive on the other side of the road, potentially. You have to join a new union. You have to find the food you're used to. You have to get some new electrical appliances (or at least outlet converters). You have to become familiar with a new set of stores and brands.

Over here, most of the time you can't tell if you're in Boise or L.A. or Atlanta, except for the weather.

Note: This is not necessarily a case where the American situation is "better," as many people would like to maintain regional differences and character. But we are a very homogeneous society.

by asdf on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 01:02:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Worker Mobility Poll (none / 0)

Most of my friends speak two foreign languages. The problems you point out with driving and electrical appliances apply only to the British Isles. I shop at local grocery stores - no need to get used to new store chains. Just like you can get Florida Orange Juice in Alaska, I can get Spanish tomatoes, Polish juice, French cheese and greek olives.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 01:13:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Pan-European Food (none / 0)

The problems you point out with driving and electrical appliances apply only to the British Isles.

Indeed - and even those aren't that serious - I could shave myself while on holiday in Britain...

A further addition on shops: it has now become customary to label products in lots of languages at the same time. Now, while say a Lithuanian is unlikely to find many products in say France that are also labelled in her native language, chances are one of the foreign languages she speaks will be used.

On the other hand, missing familiar tastes can still be the case if I can buy Polish juice, French cheese and greek olives anywhere. When I was in West Germany, Pick salami and Hungarian yellow paprika were rare and missed, and the dessert speciality Túró Rudi (chocolate-coated turd cheese, a byproduct of communist mass production, which proved so popular here that Bounty, Snickers & co failed to dent its market dominance to this day) nonexistent.

(Then again, this is not always an issue of residence, you can get hooked on taste you only met upon as tourist - I have to buy those turd cheese balls in garlic-oil every time I get to Lower Austria...)

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Mon Oct 31st, 2005 at 04:46:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Pan-European Food (none / 0)

Yeah, you're right about the labeling. When in the US it felt very much like under communism with brighter colors. Products are labeled in one language only. Another thing that struck me was that a lot of products are sold under fantasy names, which don't reveal (at least to me) what they are made of. Also watch out for surprises: Gouda, Emmentaler and Cheddar cheese don't taste like the original stuff. Kaiser rolls don't have the crust you would expect and aren't as soft on the inside. Polish sausage also tastes much different. I absolutely loved Mott's apple juice, fresh milk and bagels. Coffee is a desaster. And I never understood why there are no good mineral waters of US origin.

"The USA appears destined by fate to plague America with misery in the name of liberty." Simon Bolivar, Caracas, 1819

by Ritter on Tue Nov 1st, 2005 at 03:20:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Worker Mobility Poll | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Go to: [ European Tribune Homepage : Top of page : Top of comments ]

Worker Mobility Poll

Top Diaries

Ireland 13 South Africa 8

UNGA: West Censors the South and East

EU VDL State of the Union -- Managing Decay

Rugby World Cup 2023 Week 1 review

Reactionary Visions and eNtiTiES

Sovereignty 2040

Recent Diaries

Ireland 13 South Africa 8

UNGA: West Censors the South and East

A Tale by Benjamin Franklin

Fail in Democracy Return to Authoritarianism

Yemen From Ceasefire to Peace Talks?

Huge Cost Proxy War of Choice

EU VDL State of the Union -- Managing Decay

Reactionary Visions and eNtiTiES

Top Military War Planning Under Joe Biden - Ukraine

Rugby World Cup 2023 Week 1 review

Joe's Fuck the EU -- Showdown

Modi G20 One Earth, One Family, One Future

Conflict In Syria's Deir Ezzor Province

Sovereignty 2040

Some September Food/Ag Events

September 2023

The Leading International Pariah State

Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - September 2023

BREAKING: The Free State of Gabon

Ukraine Halting China's BRI Project to EU