Bye Bye Germany: More and More Leave Germany Behind

[Aptrgangr]

BYE BYE DEUTSCHLAND

More and More Leave Germany Behind

Faced with poor job prospects, high taxes and an intrusive bureaucracy, more and more Germans are choosing to emigrate. Most of those who leave, though, are highly qualified -- which could mean devastating economic consequences.
They are fed up, truly fed up. Fed up with the constant bickering over the costs of wage benefits, social reforms, elimination of subsidies, store closing hours and all the other symbols of a country stuck in bureaucratic and legislative gridlock.
They are tired of living in country where landing a job is like playing the lottery, a country where not even half of citizens live from gainful employment and a country in which even academics in their mid-40s are already considered problem cases when it comes to job placement. In other words, they are fed up with living in a country where all opportunities already seem to be taken: opportunities to succeed in one's career, to own property and to achieve prosperity.
That is why they want to leave -- as fast as they can, in fact -- and move to places where they believe there is hope for a better future. One of those places is the Third World -- India, to be more precise. René Seifert, 35, still raves about Bangalore, India's booming metropolis, where young computer programmers spend their nights crowding into the city's dance clubs and where, during the days, cars share the streets with rickshaws and cows. And where, despite the seeming chaos, every thing has its place. "I'm fascinated by the pulse of Asia, the upbeat prevailing mood and the wealth of opportunities," he raves.
With a few thousand euros in starting capital Seifert, a businessman and former head of entertainment at Internet portal Lycos Europe, founded a company in Bangalore that provides accounting services for mid-sized German companies. He is so enamored of India that he can hardly imagine ever wanting to return to Munich. "Things are really starting to move here," he says.

"Why stay in Cottbus?"
Frank Naumann, a 38-year-old doctor, fled to Austria with his wife because of "miserable working conditions at home." German doctors, he says, "are in demand from North Cape" -- in northern Norway -- "to the Emirates, so why should I have stayed in Cottbus?"
Naumann worked at a hospital in the eastern German city of Cottbus for six years without ever being offered a permanent contract. Because his chances of being promoted to senior physician were so uncertain, Naumann and his wife decided to move to the Salzburg region, where he now has permanent contract as a senior physician at a hospital in the Austrian town of Schwarzach. Back in Cottbus, doctors are working multiple shifts because the hospital suffers from a shortage of qualified personnel.
Almost everyone in Germany these days knows people like Seifert or Naumann -- people who have decided to make a fresh start in the middle of their lives. Saying goodbye is difficult for almost anyone, but at some point the frustrations and the yearning for a new future become too overwhelming to ignore. Rarely have so many Germans decided to leave it all behind -- their houses and properties, parents and aunts, friends and co-workers. According to the German Federal Office of Statistics, 144,815 Germans left the country last year, a jump of almost 25 percent over 2002. At the same time, fewer and fewer Germans are returning from abroad. The most recent figure is 128,052. For the first time in a generation, more Germans are emigrating than returning. And these are only the official figures.
There are probably just as many who move away without bothering to notify officials in their local municipalities. And those who go are no longer only social dropouts, those seeking a tax haven or celebrities. Nowadays doctors are moving to Norway, engineers to the United States and agricultural experts to New Zealand. Germany is becoming a net exporter of people.
The typical emigrant is in his prime, between the ages of 25 and 45, has had a decent education and is already well into his career. "Those who go are often highly motivated and well-educated," says Stefanie Wahl of the Institute of the Economy and Society in Bonn. But immigrants are a different story altogether. "The people who come here are usually poor, unskilled and have little education."

A paucity of immigrants
This is precisely the problem. Not only are more people turning their backs on Germany, but those who go are typically the country's best and brightest. According to a study by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), hardly any other industrialized nation is losing so many academics to other countries. The percentage of emigrants with doctorates is 10 times as high as it is in the general population. And half of emigrants are younger than 35. "This is a warning sign," Ludwig Georg Braun, the president of the German Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said recently.
Meanwhile, the number of new immigrants is on the decline, and those who do choose to make Germany their home are often not exactly the kinds of workers companies actively seek out. While countries like Australia and Canada restrict immigration mainly to the kinds of people they can truly use, all it takes for someone to immigrate into Germany is proof that they already have family there or are Eastern Europeans of German descent.
It is failed policy with far-reaching consequences. Hamburg economist Thomas Straubhaar warns of what he calls a "DDR effect" if the country loses those who are the most flexible and open to innovation as happened to former East Germany. "Unless we do something about it," he says, "this country's problems will become more severe than almost anyone can imagine today."
The country's pension system is losing contributors just as vast numbers of baby-boomers are gradually entering retirement. The demographic crisis is getting worse, especially when one considers that deaths outnumbered births by 144,000 in 2005, and that this gap is continuing to widen.
Beyond the social system, the emigration of the country's elites represents a loss to the German economy as well. The government spends untold thousands of euros for the education and training of every biologist, computer scientist or engineer. And then these specialists become frustrated and leave the country.
Of the just under 12,000 students who enter medical school in Germany each year, fewer than 7,000 end up working in hospitals or private practice. Of those who find employment, about half of them find it outside of Germany, according to the Marburg Bund, the trade association of German hospital doctors. Training these 3,000 or so doctors who end up emigrating costs the government about €600 million -- an expense that ultimately benefits patients in Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland.

Fifty-seven thousand Germans in Austria
Ultimately, such an export of intellectual wealth weakens Germany as a site for investment. Many companies already lack specialized workers today, and 16 percent of German companies are unable to fill all their positions because of a lack of qualified candidates. There are about 7,000 unfilled engineering jobs in the machine building industry alone.
"We cannot simply look on as precisely those people emigrate who are valuable, well educated and motivated," says DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche, referring to what human resource experts call the "brain drain." Zetsche believes that the solution lies in the government changing its approach to immigration policy. "We should encourage people to immigrate who can help us solve our problems."
What was once an exotic dream has become a realistic option for many planning their lives. Three million Germans already live abroad today. Germany, the world champion when it comes to exports, began by moving its manufacturing facilities overseas, followed by outsourcing its jobs to lower-wage countries. Now its citizens are following suit.
Some are motivated by a yen for adventure in faraway places. Others are simply fed up with German idiosyncrasies, such as the propensity to constantly come up with new rules where none were necessary in the first place. But the most important motivation is often economic, as Germans facing a lack of career opportunities at home seek to build new lives in places where their skills are still in demand. And that is the case in a surprisingly large number of places in the world.
Australia has launched a campaign to recruit trained professionals from abroad, from hairdressers to mining engineers. New Zealand is also actively looking for qualified workers. But most emigrants are hesitant to move so far away; for them starting anew in a neighboring country is daring enough.
More than 57,000 Germans now work in Austria. And Switzerland is becoming increasingly popular: One in 10 emigrants opts for Germany's southern neighbor, and in 2005 Switzerland was the top destination for Germans emigrating abroad. Danish job recruiters even make the trip to job fairs in Germany to recruit sought-after German professionals.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...446045,00.html

[Menydh]

It is also Bye-Bye Britain

Not funny, but it struck home

The Spectator
November 11, 2006

Apparently almost a million British citizens have left the country since 2000, to live somewhere else. Last year, according to the Office for National Statistics, 380,000 people left Britain, of whom about 200,000 were British citizens. At the same time, though, 565,000 immigrants arrived in Britain, the overwhelming majority from the Indian subcontinent (largely Pakistan and Bangladesh).

These facts were reported as if they were entirely unrelated. Nobody dared to venture that there was perhaps a very direct and even causal relationship between the record numbers of British people leaving the country and the record numbers of non-British people coming in...

[source]

More Britons consider move abroad

BBC News
August 2, 2006

More British people than ever before want to turn dreams of a foreign life into reality, a poll for the BBC suggests.

About 1,000 people were questioned for the survey and a majority said they had considered emigrating, little change from a similar 2003 poll.

However, the number hoping to move in the near future has almost doubled.

[...]

Young people were the most likely to want to leave, with a quarter saying they were hoping to live abroad.

[...]

Some 12% said they did not like what the UK had become while one in 10 said they already had friends or family overseas.

The most popular choices for emigration were Australia, Spain, Canada, New Zealand and the US.

The opinion poll results reflect trends in the limited national statistics on emigration. According to official figures, record numbers of people have been emigrating with 350,000 having left in 2004 - up a third on ten years.

[...]

"Britain has developed a particularly global outlook thanks to centuries of flows in and out.

[source]

Trends in age of British migrants have changed too. This article dates back to 2005:

Young Brits leaving UK
spark �brain drain� fears

Daily Express
May 9, 2005

Reasons given for leaving included soaring crime, house and petrol prices, and long working hours.

A survey showed that around 12 per cent of those aged 21-35 are considering moving abroad permanently in the next five years -- more than 1.2 million young adults.

In contrast, recent figures from the Office for National Statistics show that Labour�s �open door� immigration policy saw an increase in the number of people coming to Britain for the sixth year running.

In 2003, 151,000 people came to the UK to live.

More than 260,000 people left London to live in other parts of the UK, while 152,500 moved to London from the provinces.

However, immigration meant the number of people living in the capital still increased.

Most people leaving Britain permanently opt to live in Australia, followed by Spain, the USA, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Canada, South Africa and Japan.

London was also found to be the world's second most expensive city to live in.

[source]

[Menydh]

[Britain's] International Migration 2005
(UK's official statistics)

Total International Migration (TIM) to/from the UK 1991-2005

In 2005, an estimated 185,000 more people entered than left the UK for at least a year. This net in-migration was lower than the 2004 estimate, but was higher than the estimates for all other years since the method to estimate Total International Migration began in 1991.

The estimated outflow from the UK of 380,000 sustained the high level of out-migration seen in recent years. This was equivalent, on average, to over 1,000 people a day leaving the UK to live abroad, over half of whom were British citizens.

Although slightly lower than the 2004 estimate, the number of people arriving to live in the UK remained high at 565,000 in 2005, an average of over 1,500 a day.

The pattern seen in recent years of net in-migration of foreign citizens and net out-migration of British citizens continued in 2005.

An estimated 198,000 British citizens migrated from the UK in 2005. Once again Australia was the most preferred destination for British citizens migrating abroad, followed by Spain and France.

Overall, an estimated 64,000 more A8 citizens migrated into the UK for at least a year than left in 2005, compared with 49,000 in 2004.

A8 citizens migrating long-term into the UK increased by over 50 per cent from 52,000 in 2004 to 80,000 in 2005. This increase can be explained by 2005 being the first full calendar year following the date of accession in May 2004 for which migration by A8 citizens could be estimated.

Long-term outflows of A8 citizens also increased notably for the first time in 2005 but trends in migration outflows will not become clear until future years. Almost 80 per cent of this outflow occurred in the second half of 2005.

In 2005, IPS estimates showed that more Polish citizens migrated into the UK for at least a year than citizens of any other foreign country. An estimated 49,000 Polish citizens migrated into the UK in 2005, almost three times the 2004 IPS estimate of 17,000.

[source]

[Menydh]

And Bye-Bye to The Netherlands too

Mass emigration slows Dutch population growth

Expatica
November 10, 2006

In the first nine months of this year, almost 100,000 people left the Netherlands to settle elsewhere, 12,000 more than the same period last year.

About half of the emigrants were Dutch natives, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday.

If the trend continues, more than 130,000 people will have left the country by the end of this year.

For the third successive year, the number of emigrants substantially outnumbers immigrants, the CBS said.

The net effect means the Dutch population was reduced in the 2004-06 period by 75,000. In the preceding three years, there was a positive net migration of 75,000.

Despite the dramatic reversal, the number of immigrants is also on the increase.

In the first nine months of this year, 76,000 immigrants settled in the Netherlands, an increase of 6,000 compared to last year.

They primarily came from Poland, Germany and the US. The number of former Dutch emigrants returning to their country of birth is also growing.

The rising rate of emigration slowed population increase to 13,000 this year 9,000 fewer than 2005. The population is expected to grow by 20,000 this year.

The population growth has not been so low since population counts were conducted for the first time in 1900.

In the first nine months of this year, 139,000 babies were born, a decrease of 3,000 compared with the same period in 2005.

If this trend continues, this year's birth rate will be under 185,000, the lowest number in two decades.


[source]

[Heimdallr]

.
Immigration to Sweden in 2006 reached its highest level since records began. At the same time emigration also soared to a level not seen in over 100 years, according to official figures published by Statistics Sweden.

Swedish citizenship was granted to more people than ever before in 2006, a year in which the country's population increased by 65,505. The total population recorded on 31st December was 9,113,257.

Immigration last year increased by 47 percent compared to 2005, reaching a total of 95,750 people. This constituted just over 12,000 more immigrants than the previous record year of 1994, when Sweden took in large numbers of refugees fleeing the war in Yugoslavia.

Last year's increase can primarily be explained by temporary asylum legislation, which gave asylum seekers the right to have their cases reassessed. The legislation covered the period from 15th November 2005 to 31st March 2006 but a backlog meant that work continued throughout 2006....

Another record was also broken in 2006 when 51,239 people had their Swedish citizenship applications approved. The largest increase in terms of numbers occurred among Iraqi citizens, 12,895 of whom were granted Swedish citizenship.

At the same time as immigration to Sweden increased, emigration out of the country also rose. During 2006, 44 908 people emigrated, an increase of 18 percent compared to the previous year.

The last time a higher number of people emigrated from Sweden was in 1892, 45,504 people packed their bags and left the country. As in 2005, the majority of those leaving were Swedish citizens followed by Finns, Danes and Norwegians.

Source: The Local >>> Record immigration to Sweden in 2006

[Waarnemer]

you can see the same in the netherlands

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Heimdallr

At the same time as immigration to Sweden increased, emigration out of the country also rose. During 2006, 44 908 people emigrated, an increase of 18 percent compared to the previous year.

The last time a higher number of people emigrated from Sweden was in 1892, 45,504 people packed their bags and left the country. As in 2005, the majority of those leaving were Swedish citizens followed by Finns, Danes and Norwegians.

Same trend in England, Germany and The Netherlands, as reported here:

http://forum.stirpes.net/ethnopoliti...ny-behind.html
Bye-Bye Britain
Bye-Bye to The Netherlands

Not the only big problem for Sweden though:

Swedes keenest on ethnic minorities

[Gladstone]

The very multi-cultural World Bank and closely associated United Nations refer to 'immigrants' as migrant stocks...the very same term used for animals to be exploited economically.

Here the United Nations offers a chart of 'World Migrant Stocks'. I suppose this might be useful if one was an industrialists and wished to find the best source of cheap labor for one's project. Again, quite multi-cultural.

They see people as brute beasts.

[Heimdallr]

Originally Posted by Gladstone

The very multi-cultural World Bank and closely associated United Nations refer to 'immigrants' as migrant stocks...the very same term used for animals to be exploited economically.

Here the United Nations offers a chart of 'World Migrant Stocks'. I suppose this might be useful if one was an industrialists and wished to find the best source of cheap labor for one's project. Again, quite multi-cultural...

Afterall, THAT is the REAL reason for allowing immigration: to keep the labor supply PLENTIFUL and CHEAP for the capitalists to exploit.

[Gladstone]

Originally Posted by Heimdallr

Afterall, THAT is the REAL reason for allowing immigration: to keep the labor supply PLENTIFUL and CHEAP for the capitalists to exploit.

Exactly. Cheap labor is central to the ideology of multi-culturalism. And when you trace the origins of cheap labor, you find it in the trans-Atlantic slave trade...of which the modern phenomena of 'mass immigration' is simply the modern variant.

Avarice, greed, and a general hatred for mankind is what drives multi-culturalism.

[Heimdallr]

Originally Posted by Gladstone

Exactly. Cheap labor is central to the ideology of multi-culturalism. And when you trace the origins of cheap labor, you find it in the trans-Atlantic slave trade...of which the modern phenomena of 'mass immigration' is simply the modern variant... Avarice, greed, and a general hatred for mankind is what drives multi-culturalism.

A general hatred of European mankind, I might add... And WHO amongst us are the guilty ??? ... The most 'influential' of the guilty have "an insatiable greed for riches and an inordinate, miserly desire to gain and hoard wealth" as its TRUE religion, and a deep abiding CONTEMPT for Christianity as the motivator of its behavior...

In USAmerica we know them (ironically) as the VERY ones our European, Christian soldiers are fighting and dying for on the battlefields of Iraq (to secure the eastern front of the state of Israel)... And all in the name of a "war on terrorism" (war on the enemies of the state of Israel)...

Irony or conspiracy ??? ... America bowing to the barons of avarice !!!

[Marulus]

Originally Posted by Heimdallr

At the same time as immigration to Sweden increased, emigration out of the country also rose. During 2006, 44 908 people emigrated, an increase of 18 percent compared to the previous year.

The last time a higher number of people emigrated from Sweden was in 1892, 45,504 people packed their bags and left the country. As in 2005, the majority of those leaving were Swedish citizens followed by Finns, Danes and Norwegians.

Where do all these people go, I wonder?

[wilpuri]

Originally Posted by prometheus

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Where do all these people go, I wonder?

America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, mostly I think.

[Menydh]

You will have to excuse me here, Heimdallr, but my dislike and distrust for anything American is as well known as it is well justified. And, quite honestly, I don't take things for granted especially when coming from America.