For those looking for work: Japan, Brazil, and, Australia are having more difficulty filling available jobs than the US.

However, the country with the least competition for jobs is likely Singapore with their 2.1% unemployment rate.

You are aware that you can't just up and move to these countries to work, right?

(05-30-2012 09:39 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  You are aware that you can't just up and move to these countries to work, right?

Depends on your skill set. I have friends that have recently moved to Singapore, Germany, and Australia for work.

Is that an option for the average American? Not so much.

Sure, if your friends had a remarkably unique skill set and could apply directly to the foreign government for a work visa, or if they were sponsored by a company via intercompany transfer.

Global transfers are very small subset of the global white collar or high blue collar workforce of any country. Some countries of course have laborer visas, but those countries are few and to be honest, not the type of place you want to be an American living a laborer lifestyle.

When it is a company transfer, there are further limitations as to the jobs that can be performed in the foreign country, often depending on whether a local can do the job. So low unemployment in a country really has zero ability to be impacted by an incoming white collar foreign population.

(05-30-2012 09:24 AM)AtlanticLeague Wrote:  However, the country with the least competition for jobs is likely Singapore with their 2.1% unemployment rate.

You mean a country that embraces free market economic policies more so than any other in the world and has low taxes has an incredibly low unemployment rate? How shocking.

(05-30-2012 09:58 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Sure, if your friends had a remarkably unique skill set and could apply directly to the foreign government for a work visa, or if they were sponsored by a company via intercompany transfer.

Global transfers are very small subset of the global white collar or high blue collar workforce of any country. Some countries of course have laborer visas, but those countries are few and to be honest, not the type of place you want to be an American living a laborer lifestyle.

When it is a company transfer, there are further limitations as to the jobs that can be performed in the foreign country, often depending on whether a local can do the job. So low unemployment in a country really has zero ability to be impacted by an incoming white collar foreign population.

Two of them are management consultants and one is an energy analyst. The one in Singapore is an intra-company transfer.

(05-30-2012 09:59 AM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(05-30-2012 09:24 AM)AtlanticLeague Wrote:  However, the country with the least competition for jobs is likely Singapore with their 2.1% unemployment rate.

You mean a country that embraces free market economic policies more so than any other in the world and has low taxes has an incredibly low unemployment rate? How shocking.

You're glossing over a lot here, and only picking aspects which support your view. They also have a nationalized healthcare system, 4/5ths of them live in nationally subsidized housing, have far more national support for education, and are quite authoritarian even by asian standards.

(05-30-2012 10:50 AM)UCF08 Wrote:  (Singapore is) quite authoritarian even by asian standards.

Your other points are valid, but Singapore holds no candle to most other Asian countries and their authoritarian governements and mistreatment of their citizens.

Singapore is no Randian paradise, but it is not Burma, Vietnam or China. The only more free places in Asia are probably Hong Kong and Taiwan, depending on how you measure authoritarian.

I'm sorry, I really meant 'but not by asian standards'. They're more authoritarian than a few nations, I'd think South Korea would be more open than them too, but you're correct. They're still far more authoritarian than any western libertarian would be ok with.

(05-30-2012 10:50 AM)UCF08 Wrote:  

(05-30-2012 09:59 AM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(05-30-2012 09:24 AM)AtlanticLeague Wrote:  However, the country with the least competition for jobs is likely Singapore with their 2.1% unemployment rate.

You mean a country that embraces free market economic policies more so than any other in the world and has low taxes has an incredibly low unemployment rate? How shocking.

You're glossing over a lot here, and only picking aspects which support your view. They also have a nationalized healthcare system, 4/5ths of them live in nationally subsidized housing, have far more national support for education, and are quite authoritarian even by asian standards.

LOL. And you are spinning/almost outright lying.

Individuals in Singapore pay around 1/3 of costs directly out of pocket, through earnings and health savings accounts (yes, those HSAs are mandated, and no, I don't agree with that). In the U.S., third parties pay over 90%. There are also lots of incentives for thrift, making it more cost effective. The gov't also recoups alot of its expenditures through user fees.

Your claim about subsidized housing is very misleading, at best. The gov't owns/operates 80+%, but 95% of those are "owned" (through a long-term lease) by the occupants. Only a small percentage are fully subsidized by the gov't.

They do have some authoritarian social policies (and so does the U.S.), but as I said, they embrace "free market economic policies more so" than any other country in the world right now. They have a lot of exposure to the Euro crisis that could cause them problems soon, but all in all, they tend to stay out of their own way more than we do here. They're at least moving in the right direction socially, which is more than we can say.

(05-30-2012 11:10 AM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(05-30-2012 10:50 AM)UCF08 Wrote:  

(05-30-2012 09:59 AM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

(05-30-2012 09:24 AM)AtlanticLeague Wrote:  However, the country with the least competition for jobs is likely Singapore with their 2.1% unemployment rate.

You mean a country that embraces free market economic policies more so than any other in the world and has low taxes has an incredibly low unemployment rate? How shocking.

You're glossing over a lot here, and only picking aspects which support your view. They also have a nationalized healthcare system, 4/5ths of them live in nationally subsidized housing, have far more national support for education, and are quite authoritarian even by asian standards.

LOL. And you are spinning/almost outright lying.

UCF? I'm shocked.