Ireland takes them in, Germany sends them out
ARTICLE: “Auf wiedersehen, Fatherland: For decades, foreigners found work in Germany. Now Germans are going abroad in search of jobs,” The Economist, 28 October 2006, p. 61.Thinking back to that piece I blogged on Ireland’s new net immigration, this is a sight we haven’t seen in Germany since family members on my Dad’s side left the old country back near the end of the 19th century (they have a museum about it at Bremerhaven, a northern port through which most left for Ellis Island).
When the Wall came down, there was a lot of movement in the homeland, but overwhelmingly inward. Now, the ambitious Germans are once again leaving for better prospects, and all this political bitching about too many immigrants is dying down, only to be replaced with the Steyn-ian fear of declining civilization.
The bigger point? Highly-skilled labor is very mobile in this global economy, and Germany’s best and brightest are no exception.