Manpower CEO, Jeff Joerres talks to the Financial Times about the crisis and the possibility of a new brain drain in the U.S. and Europe.
Mr Joerres says opportunities in the developing world could prompt a "brain-drain" from America and Europe that could exacerbate the talent shortage.
"It's not just Irish going back to Ireland or Indians going back to India," he says. "It's Americans saying: 'Mumbai is not so bad and when I go there I get a standard of living that's acceptable to me'. You'll see more of that."
In a reluctant foray into politics, Mr Joerres says the US is shooting itself in the foot by having too low a limit on the number of non-immigrant visas it issues, meaning that the work permits tend to run out by May every year. "That's just wrong," he says. "The growth of this country came from people who were not American but were classically American - who came here from another country with an idea, developed it and created employment. Two-thirds of Silicon Valley companies were started by people not born in the US.
"We were so arrogant about being able to capture the smartest people in the world because we were the best alternative. But there are a lot of other neat alternatives right now. Go to Shanghai, Dubai, Qatar, Abu Dhabi - that's who the US is competing against. We're competing against the nightlife and the energy in Mumbai and Bangalore.
"This is a global labour market," Mr Joerres adds. "If you see migration back to Mexico, India, China, some of the western countries could be really adversely impacted by a brain-drain that they didn't quite anticipate."
We know that economic crises are periods of accelerated innovation and creative destruction, but they can also radically reshape the global flow of talent. Europe's economic difficulties and relative closure during the previous two major economic crashes - the Long Depression of the 1870s and the Great Depression of the 1930s - helped pave the way for the U.S. to achieve its global talent advantage. We may be seeing the beginnings of another shift today - less toward nations and more toward thriving mega-regions. One thing is for sure: The global competition for talent promises to get more heated as we move from crisis to recovery. The places that can attract the most capable and broadest array of talent will gain considerable long-run competitive advantage as that happens.
Richard Florida
Indeed, my husband and I -- we are both Americans -- left the US two years to live in Istanbul, Turkey. The job opportunities here for my husband, who is an English literature professor, are better here than they are in the US, and this was also true even before the economic crisis hit. More importantly, the standard of living here is better than in the US. Instead of having to work at a small university in the middle of nowhere, my husband can work in Istanbul (and so can I), and we can enjoy relatively lower prices for things like rent, food and nightlife than we would, say, in New York, the only American city comparable to Istanbul (in terms of population and size). I think you will find more and more people like us who look abroad for job opportunities and a higher standard of living.
I taught public school in the US for three years, and went abroad to teach in 2000; since that time, I have lived in Seoul, Santiago Chile, and now Shanghai. Without a doubt, the professional climate of international education is wonderful, but so is the standard of living. I teach small classes, am paid well, and treated with respect: each of the aforementioned criteria were not present during my brief tenure as a teacher at home.
I work in international schools, which cater to the diplomatic and business communities in foreign cities; these schools are not beholden to the same confining laws as US public schools, and it shows. The US system is broken, and while I admire the teachers who devote themselves to teaching in the US, living and working abroad has been rewarding beyond what I could have envisioned when I entered the international realm.
If more Americans actually tried living abroad, I think they would be pleasantly surprised at how wonderful it is.
Maybe. I work with several Indian IT workers. None of them is clamoring to go back to India. In fact, a couple of them are worried about being downsized and forced to move back. One sneered when I ask about job opportunites in India. Another friend, a top flight programmer voluntarily moved back to Hong Kong. He can't find work.
Mr. Joerres has an incentive to make this type of statement. The more work permits available the more people he can place.
Further what is wrong with other economies expanding? You could make the argument that would ultimately benefit the US.
I live in Buenos Aires at the moment and there are a great many expats down here looking to start businesses, particularly in IT where they can find cheaper labor here than in the US, Canada or Europe. But "standard of living" cannot be repeated enough when discussing why people from developed countries may be flocking to developing countries in droves. It is far too expensive in places like New York or San Francisco or London to enjoy the kind of lifestyle that expats enjoy here in Latin America and elsewhere.
A person could live a very comfortable life in Buenos Aires for around $20K a year. That's around the poverty line in New York, where I am from. I love New York, and when I live there I accept the costs and can afford them because my work as a software developer tends to pay me pretty well, but I can understand why someone would give up on New York and seek out a cheaper, but just as cosmopolitan, alternative elsewhere in the world. After a few years in a tiny Manhattan apartment, paying obscene amounts of money for just about everything (including the tiny apartment), places like Buenos Aires can start to seem very welcoming.