Job Seekers

   Jobs may be scarce in America, but they're even more scarce elsewhere in the world. The unemployment rate in the U.S. is slightly above 8 percent, and that's a bad thing. But the unemployment rate in Spain is 25 percent, and among the youth in that country, it's 53.1 percent.
   So what do you do when you can't find a job near home? You move to where the odds of finding a job are better. And historically, that's why many workers came to America: This is where the jobs were and, comparatively, still are.
   The latest figures from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, shows an overall unemployment rate in August for the 17 countries that use the euro as its monetary unit of 11.4 percent. The jobless rate for all 27 nations of the EU was 10.5 percent. Following Spain with the highest jobless rate is Greece, at 24.4 percent.
   Austria has the lowest unemployment rate, 4.5 percent, with Luxembourg (5.2 percent), the Netherlands (5.3 percent) and Germany (5.5 percent) following. The unemployment rate in the UK is at 8 percent, just below America's 8.1 percent, while in Ireland, the percentage of workers without jobs is 15 percent.
   Granted, an unemployment rate above 8 percent is no picnic, but the odds of finding a job in America are a lot better than finding a job in Spain, Greece, Portugal, or Ireland.
   So it follows that workers in those countries will try first in Northern Europe, and then -- if they are lucky enough to get a visa or have family here -- will come to America, still, relatively speaking, the land of opportunity.