Greeks and Irish flock to Australia
Greece and Ireland are not exactly booming. For many €" especially the young €" the two can offer little in terms of future job prospects or material prosperity. By contrast, Australia, a country built on immigration €" primarily from the British Isles, but also Greece, Italy and parts of Asia €" is now attracting record numbers of young Irish and Greeks to its shores.
Short-term arrivals of Greek citizens were up 21% to about 4,000 people between May and November 2011, compared with 2009, according to Australia's statistics bureau. With Greece braced for another year of recession, unemployment at a record 21% and an unprecedented 51.1% of under-25 year olds out of work, the brain drain is only expected to grow.
The Australian economy €" by contrast €" is predicted to grow by about 4% in 2012, one of the highest rates in the developed world. A mining boom fuelled by Chinese demand has led to a shortage of skilled vacancies, which young European immigrants are happy to fill.
The bad news for Greece is that most emigrants are €university graduates, engineers, architects, mechanics, teachers, bankers who will do anything for work,€ said Bill Papastergiades, president of the Lonsdale Street Greek Australian community in Melbourne to London's Guardian newspaper. €It's desperate stuff. We're all aghast. Often they'll just turn up with a bag. Their stories are heartbreaking and on every plane there are more,€ he told The Guardian. €A lot come here and are literally lost. We've taken to putting them in houses, five or six of them at a time, here in the centre.€
Artist and curator Tessie Spilioti, 45, told The Guardian she misses her family and friends in Greece, but that €Australia is a positive country€. Ms Spilioti said that the €feeling of abundance and of opportunity€ in Australia is €totally missing in Greece€.
Equally, Irish emigration rates are higher today than in the 1980s. During the first half of 2010, 15,000 Irish arrived in Australia. Although this was a drop from 23,000 in 2009, net emigration out of Ireland is expected to be 100,000 over 2011 and 2012, with Australia the primary destination. A further 12,500 Irish were on holiday visas to the country, according to The Guardian.
Canberra is easing work-permit requirements to attract about 125,000 skilled immigrants over the next year to fill gaps in the labour force. No one can be surprised at such trends. Truck drivers for Western Australia's remote mines are earning annual salaries of around US$200,000.
The rate is not stopping. According to the Irish Examiner, there has been a 70% rise in Irish emigrants getting Australian approval. Figures released by Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship revealed that Irish citizens are now the third-highest recipients of four-year temporary residence visas.
Irish people were granted 3,100 €primary 457 visas€ €" offered to skilled workers and their dependents €" from July to December last year. This marks a 68% rise from the same period in 2010 and now means that Irish people received 9.2% of all visas granted in that period, after people from Britain (24.8%) and India (17.6%).
Australia is not alone. According to the Financial Times, 1,500 Irish move to the British mainland every month. The number of Irish moving to Canada and New Zealand has also spiked dramatically. €Emigration amongst young people and people coming out of college is definitely at a high. Canada, Australia and the U.S. are the main [destinations]€, Mark McCabe of the Dublin Institute of Technology told the IBTimes.
Such trends show no sign of abating. Yes, young Greeks and Irish may return. But history shows that when they leave, they leave for good. Greece and Ireland are emptying, mostly of their brightest minds. And so the politicians fiddle while the Eurozone burns.
Short-term arrivals of Greek citizens were up 21% to about 4,000 people between May and November 2011, compared with 2009, according to Australia's statistics bureau. With Greece braced for another year of recession, unemployment at a record 21% and an unprecedented 51.1% of under-25 year olds out of work, the brain drain is only expected to grow.
The Australian economy €" by contrast €" is predicted to grow by about 4% in 2012, one of the highest rates in the developed world. A mining boom fuelled by Chinese demand has led to a shortage of skilled vacancies, which young European immigrants are happy to fill.
The bad news for Greece is that most emigrants are €university graduates, engineers, architects, mechanics, teachers, bankers who will do anything for work,€ said Bill Papastergiades, president of the Lonsdale Street Greek Australian community in Melbourne to London's Guardian newspaper. €It's desperate stuff. We're all aghast. Often they'll just turn up with a bag. Their stories are heartbreaking and on every plane there are more,€ he told The Guardian. €A lot come here and are literally lost. We've taken to putting them in houses, five or six of them at a time, here in the centre.€
Artist and curator Tessie Spilioti, 45, told The Guardian she misses her family and friends in Greece, but that €Australia is a positive country€. Ms Spilioti said that the €feeling of abundance and of opportunity€ in Australia is €totally missing in Greece€.
Equally, Irish emigration rates are higher today than in the 1980s. During the first half of 2010, 15,000 Irish arrived in Australia. Although this was a drop from 23,000 in 2009, net emigration out of Ireland is expected to be 100,000 over 2011 and 2012, with Australia the primary destination. A further 12,500 Irish were on holiday visas to the country, according to The Guardian.
Canberra is easing work-permit requirements to attract about 125,000 skilled immigrants over the next year to fill gaps in the labour force. No one can be surprised at such trends. Truck drivers for Western Australia's remote mines are earning annual salaries of around US$200,000.
The rate is not stopping. According to the Irish Examiner, there has been a 70% rise in Irish emigrants getting Australian approval. Figures released by Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship revealed that Irish citizens are now the third-highest recipients of four-year temporary residence visas.
Irish people were granted 3,100 €primary 457 visas€ €" offered to skilled workers and their dependents €" from July to December last year. This marks a 68% rise from the same period in 2010 and now means that Irish people received 9.2% of all visas granted in that period, after people from Britain (24.8%) and India (17.6%).
Australia is not alone. According to the Financial Times, 1,500 Irish move to the British mainland every month. The number of Irish moving to Canada and New Zealand has also spiked dramatically. €Emigration amongst young people and people coming out of college is definitely at a high. Canada, Australia and the U.S. are the main [destinations]€, Mark McCabe of the Dublin Institute of Technology told the IBTimes.
Such trends show no sign of abating. Yes, young Greeks and Irish may return. But history shows that when they leave, they leave for good. Greece and Ireland are emptying, mostly of their brightest minds. And so the politicians fiddle while the Eurozone burns.
