<p>Obviously some other people immigrate for other reasons. But the incontrovertible proof is that millions of people throughout history have moved to new countries when economic circumstances dictated. </p>
<p>So if millions of foreigners are perfectly capable of finding success today in teeming US cities such as New York, Chicago, or Miami, why is it so outrageous that millions of Americans might find success in foreign cities?</p>
<p>I would put it: “So if millions of foreigners are perfectly capable of finding success today in teeming US cities such as New York, Chicago, or Miami”…why can’t Americans?</p>
<p>I believe the analogy holds. To this day, plenty of people emigrate to foreign lands such as the US not because there are absolutely zero jobs in their homelands, but because there are (relatively) better opportunities in that foreign land. For example, even a minimum wage job in the US is far better than the jobs available in many parts of the world. </p>
<p>But to your point, how would you like a job that pays $800 a day (or ~$200k a year) for manual labor where you don’t even need to graduate from high school, let alone college? Not only that, but through such a job, you have the opportunity to be promoted to a job that pays $1400 a day (or over $300k a year)? The catch is that the job is in [Western</a> Australia](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/articl/SB10001424052970204621904577016172350869312.html][i]Western”>http://online.wsj.com/articl/SB10001424052970204621904577016172350869312.html), and specifically where the Australian mining industry is on a tear. I’m surprised that more Americans haven’t tried to obtain jobs in Western Australia. {Granted, you have to undergo the hassle of obtaining company-sponsored Aussie work visas, but at least you could try.} </p>
<p>Or even if moving to foreign countries is not your style, how about moving to roaring areas within the United States. [North</a> Dakota](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daniel-gross/north-dakota-spurred-energy-ag-boom-3-2-122815061.html]North”>North Dakota, Spurred by Energy and Ag Boom, Has 3.2 Percent Unemployment), for example, sports a miniscule 3.2% unemployment rate - far lower than even the overall unemployment rate of the nation before the crash - and where even low-skilled jobs such as housekeepers or cooks pay $1000-1500 a week. I’m surprised that more Americans haven’t moved to North Dakota. The same holds true of nearby states with scorching economies such as South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and the like. Why not move there?</p>
<p>Everything still needs to be built and there is no shortage of employment opportunities for anyone. It is “boomtime” there, and some people from dying cities, which once needed everything to be built, might benefit from moving there.</p>
<p>For example, ex-autoworkers might find a home there. They need laborers and laborers need jobs. People once moved to Detroit for that job, or Ohio, and now, perhaps, they will have to move West.</p>
<p>I agree with poetgrl: the need for infrastructure in ND creates more jobs. </p>
<p>Besides, I’m not asking people to move to Antarctica. It’s not as if there is no infrastructure at all in North Dakota - people have been living there for centuries. It will just be tight. You say there isn’t sufficient housing there. Well, what’s so bad about living with roommates - maybe even with multiple bunk beds in the same room? You say there isn’t retail. Well, there are towns that dot the North Dakota landscape - they clearly must have some retail facilities. </p>
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<p>Hey, sometimes you have to enduring conditions you don’t like in order to work. Workers in the oil/gas/mining industry have been enduring harsh climatic conditions (and often times with few available women) ever since those industries existed.</p>
<p>Look, the real question is, do you want a job or not? Those states have plenty of available jobs. Sure, perhaps the quality of life is low. Perhaps the infrastructure is skimpy. But hey, at least it’s a job, and probably a well-paying one at that.</p>
<p>An overseas assignment was one of my main career goals and certainly a highlight of my working life. However, I can be lazy and (sometimes) arrogant.</p>
<p>North Dakota is the Alaska of our generation except you can still get to a major metropolitan area pretty easily. If I were a recent college grad and looking for work, I’d be looking at North Dakota in a heartbeat. It doesn’t mean you’re making a lifetime commitment…Americans are getting lazy they have to have a big box store, a fast food restaurant an ATM and a gas station within a mile of home and they DRIVE to these places. Me, as I get older I get happier the further away from “civilization” I get…I’m not to fond of civilization these days. If something happened to my husband I’d be a crazy old woman in Sorels and sweatpants living off the land and a minimal pantry with a rusted out station wagon (the most practical car design ever invented BTW) as far away as I could get where the sun shines in the winter.</p>
<p>“The economic forces of the last few years have forced workers from hard hit states to states that have jobs. North Dakota definitely has jobs in the booming oil industry. But with good employment news, a new problem has arisen. There is little if any available housing for the new workers coming to the state.”</p>
<p>"Joey Scott, 25, recently moved from Montana and almost immediately had a job in the oil fields. “I’ve got a job and plenty of money, but I can’t find anywhere to live,” said Mr. Scott. Motel rooms in Williston are booked solid, some months in advance. Every mobile home park and apartment complex has a long waiting list.</p>
<p>For now, Mr. Scott is sleeping in his truck in the Wal-Mart parking lot. In fact, many new workers are sleeping in their cars or living in tents and campers. Some are renting space in basements and other workers are sleeping in company offices and warehouses."</p>
<p>When my ancestors came here from Alsace, a region once french but taken over by the Prussians, (this was before there was a Germany, though people don’t tend to realize this, late mid 1860s), they came to the Midwest. </p>
<p>There was nothing here. There were some native Americans, that’s all. In the local historical society, one of my relatives is listed as the first white kid ever born in the area. It was woods. It was cold. They had no housing. They were farmers, but first they had to clear the fields. (One nice old field is the best country club in the area. Makes me laugh)</p>
<p>Anyway, the point of this thread is that Americans aren’t the same as our ancestors. The point about ND is that it’s like that. You go or don’t go. It’s fine. I don’t care. But, the “need” for infrastructure in order to go tells you something.</p>
<p>Of course, back then if you couldn’t find a job, you starved to death. You either went where there was work, or you died. The motivation to move might have been a little stronger. ;)</p>
<p>A lot of people’s “ancestors” including mine when they came here were leaving terrible living and working conditions. They came to the US, an area that had more opportunities and better infrastructure than where they were from. This is a bit different scenario than going to ND.</p>
<p>there was better infrastructure in the Rhine than there was in the midwest.</p>
<p>But, then, you had to be one of the people who had access to that infrastructure. In the midwest, back then, they got access to whatever they could make for themselves.</p>
<p>I also think a lot of people came over because of the homestead act being passed, which was a huge draw for people like my peasant family who could own the land. It was really worth it. I don’t suppose they are going to homestead up North Dakota any time soon, either.</p>