Should Americans Start Working Abroad?

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One of the hallmarks of a variety of Southeast Asian countries and several countries in Europe, is that often young people will take jobs overseas as a way to gain experience and make money. There is an old Irish joke about how Ireland’s greatest export is its young people because of the lack of jobs at home.

It Can be Rewarding

Although this article addresses college graduates, Forbes reports that young American graduates are increasingly taking a global approach to starting their careers and are looking overseas for opportunities to jump start their careers. Back in 2012, there was a great story in the Washington Post about how the numbers of Americans looking for jobs overseas was on the uptick, 6.3 million according to the State Department at the time. That number has only slowed down due to the pandemic.

For college graduates the international experience can make a resume stand out in a crowded field of young professionals looking for new careers. Taking some time out of the US and coming back can be a career boost, especially if you take time to learn a new language on your journey. For professionals and others, working overseas can be a way to get an opportunity that just wouldn’t come in the US.

Opportunity Is Calling

In that Washington Post article from 2012, the writer mentioned how her husband had sent out hundreds of resumes to finally land a job in Hong Kong. He wasn’t looking for a new adventure in China but that’s what ended up happening. In a globalized workforce, the best opportunity for a job might involved a very long plane flight to a new place, culture, and language. This is quite a change from the past when young Americans tended not to look outside the United States for opportunity. After all, America is supposed to be the land of opportunity. Times have changed and now opportunity can be in places you don’t quite expect.

Much like Europe, American young people are having an increasingly difficult time getting their first foot into the door in entry-level jobs. And much like young people in Spain, Italy, France, Greece, and other European countries, the best opportunity may end up being somewhere else. Young folks in Southeast Asia have been moving around the Pacific basin looking for jobs in everything from construction to domestic service. This is the world we now live in and American young people are going to have to adjust their expectations and their employment plans.

Globalization

Ultimately, this is the nature of a globalized economy. Workers in the United States have been trying (and failing) to compete with workers from other countries for 30 years now. Millennials were the first to really feel the full force of this change. The 20-somethings of today have a unique opportunity to take advantage of this rather than be a victim of the trend. There is a small part of me that is slightly regretful of the state of things. Remember that old Irish joke I mentioned earlier? It’s always told with a bit of forlorn tone. It’s nice when you can be successful where you are and where your family and connections already exist. Moving to a new city is hard enough but a whole new country presents a unique set of challenges that can be hard to take on. However, since we can’t change the globalized economy overnight it is time for America’s young people to look to the world for opportunity and not just on their own shore.